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A .BOOK 



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LIGHT AT EVENING TIME 



EDITED BY 

J. STANFOED HOLME, D.D. 



At evening time it shall be light. — Zech. xiv., 7 

The almond tree shall flourish. — Ecc. xii., 5 

Tliey shall bring forth fruit in old age. — Fs. xcii., 14 



V 






NEW YORK 
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 

1881 



r 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1 880, by 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






s^ 






TO 



PETER BALEN, 

OF NEW YORK CITY, 

THE INTEGRITY OF WHOSE BUSINESS LIFE, THE LARGENESS OF WHOSE 

LIBERALITY, AND THE FERVOR OF WHOSE PIETY HAVE FOR 

MANY YEARS EVINCED TO THE WORLD A FAITH 

WHICH IS NOW AFFORDING TO HIM THE 

SUPPORT AND COMFORT OF 

LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 

BY 

HIS FRIEND AND FORMER PASTOR, 

THE EDITOR. 



/ 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



Cicero, in his justly celebrated treatise on Old 
Age, says " it can not be supposed that Nature, after 
having wisely distributed to all preceding periods 
of life their peculiar and proper enjoyments, should 
have neglected, like an indolent poet, the last act of 
the human drama, and left it destitute of suitable 
advantages." 

If this term Nature, as here used by Cicero, 
might be so defined as to include the God of nature 
as revealed in the Bible, the sentiment is not only 
eminently true, but in singular harmony with the 
spirit of divine revelation ; for in the light of the 
Bible, old age is not without its especial sources of 
enjoyment and its own peculiar rewards. 

The calmness and tranquillity of this period of 
life enable the believer, as from an eminence, to 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

look back over the past with great spiritual profit, 
and to look forward with clear vision to an eternity 
of bliss not far distant. While those in advanced 
years may be incapable of fixed and long-continued 
attention, yet this period of life is not unfavorable 
to meditation. In its exercise, the truths of religion 
and the promises of the divine Word grow more 
precious, and yield great spiritual refreshment and 
comfort. Thus the aged are not only enabled to 
fof get many of their infirmities, but they are fre- 
quently more than compensated for the absence of 
many of the hurrying and bustling pleasures of 
earlier life. 

As far as may be, to assist the aged in the per- 
formance of their duties and in the enjoyment of 
their privileges, this volume has been prepared. It 
contains such religious truth as is adapted to the 
wants of the aged, and is printed in such type as is 
best suited to their use. The articles are generally 
brief, and the work is designed to be a sort of Man- 
ual, to be taken up at odd moments for occasional 
perusal. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

In the selection of materials for the volume, we 
have aimed to secure the greatest variety both of 
matter and form, and to gather them from the widest 
range of authorship. We have admitted nothing 
which is not eminently evangelical in sentiment, 
and nothing, as we suppose, offensively sectarian in 
doctrine. 

It is hoped that there may be found in the book 
something suitable for every frame of mind and 
every experience incident to the decline of life, and 
that it may be to the spirit of the aged pilgrim what 
the staff of myrtle, according to Pliny, was to the 
traveler, infusing such an energy that during the 
longest day he never grew faint or weary. 

Especial thanks are due to Rev. John Hall, D.D., 
Rev. Howard Crosby, D.D., Rev. George B.Cheever, 
D.D., and Rev. William Adams, D.D., for original 
contributions to the volume, and to Rev. Stephen 
H. Tyng, D.D., for services kindly proffered in the 
examination of the manuscripts. 

J. S. H. 

New York, September, 1870. 



INTRODUCTION. 



I am desired to write an Introduction to this val- 
uable compilation. I have looked through it with 
care and pleasure. It presents an aggregate of re- 
ligious experience, wisdom, and genius, which gives 
to it the weight of authority and the attraction of 
delight. The selection displays an equal extent of 
information and discernment of skill in the industri- 
ous compiler. He will be rewarded, personally, in 
the assurance of the fact, and commemoratively in 
the continuance of its influence, that he has been 
the instrument, in divine and gracious hands, for giv- 
ing comfort, encouragement, and strength to thou- 
sands of the people of God in their years of debil- 
ity, solitude, and earthly decay. The mind which 
so skillfully provides true comfort for age, may en- 
joy the cheering reflection that its objects will 
never fail, and that the Savior who loves them will 



INTRODUCTION. 

surely bless the one who so willingly and cheerfully 
does them good. 

The title of the work is well selected. There is 
but one light to this dark and sinful world. That 
is the gracious Savior, who visited this world for 
its full redemption, and who gave to its fallen, wan- 
dering ones the infallible assurance that whosoever 
"followeth him shall not walk in darkness, but shall 
have the light of life." Jesus Christ, the Lamb of 
God, and the Lord of man, is the one living, ade- 
quate, glorious light on earth, for the aged and the 
young. To embrace him in the heart, with a living, 
loving faith, is to be brought out of darkness into 
light. To walk with him in the fellowship of mu- 
tual trust and love, is to " walk in the light, and to 
have no darkness at all." To do this in youth, to 
abide in this through all of active life on earth, is to 
provide a sunshine for the evening, as effective as 
the wonder of victorious Joshua, and as real and 
sure as the promise of a covenant-keeping God. 
" Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy 
moon withdraw itself. The Lord shall be thine ev- 
erlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall 
be ended." 

This is the " light at evening time," in a twofold 



INTR OB TIC T ION. 

sense of application — in retrospection and in antic- 
ipation — the light of memory in the past, and the 
light of hope in the future. 

The aged believer has a precious light of retro- 
spection and memory. The whole path of the past, 
perhaps from the days of youth, shines illuminated 
by the light of Jesus, a Savior already accepted, en- 
joyed, and loved. None but the aged can really 
understand this, with what delight the meditations 
rest upon the grace which has been given in all the 
years gone by. The memory is a divine repository 
of joys. And age is wonderfully quickened and 
aided in the power of recalling them, and contem- 
plating them in the most minute analysis of partic- 
ulars, and in the clearest display of connections be- 
tween individual facts. 

The day of one's conversion, the period of life 
when Jesus first came to claim his abode in the 
heart — how vividly all its facts, its relations, its de- 
velopments, its influences, rise up then to view. It 
was the time of a divine espousal. Jesus appear- 
ed, the loving bridegroom of the waiting soul. He 
aroused the thought; he awakened the conscious 
needs ; he displayed his own attractions to the heart 
distressed ; he entered into his chamber of repose ; 



INTR OB TJCTION. 

he assumed his abiding dwelling there ; and the dark- 
ness had passed, and the true light was now shining, 
to go out no more. 

In this precious light of a Savior, received, accept- 
ed, and loved, the converted soul has walked ; believ- 
ing, trusting, grateful, happy, perfectly satisfied, and 
perfectly at rest ; filled with joy in such companion- 
ship, and desiring none other than this Angel of the 
Covenant, who hath redeemed him from all evil, and 
hath led him all his life through in perfect security 
and perfect peace. 

And now, at evening time, in the remembrance of 
all this life of divine acceptance and of self-re- 
nouncing faith in Jesus, there is a sweet and assur- 
ing light. As old John Newton said in such a time, 
" I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish 
to be, I am not what I shall be, but, by the grace of 
God, I am not what I was. And by that grace, I am 
what I am." Thus may the aged Christian say. 
Born of God, living in Christ, walking in the Spirit, 
kept in the faith, abiding in the love of God, and re- 
joicing in him who was " the guide of my youth," 
and is " all my salvation, and all my desire." I bless 
God from the ground of my heart that, according to 
his promise, " at evening time there is light." 



INTRODUCTION. 

But it is the light of anticipation, as well as the 
light of memory. Jesus is very near to aged com- 
panions with himself. He has laid out their jour- 
ney ; he has attended them in all their passage 
through the wilderness of earth ; and now he shines 
before them in the solitude of peculiar attractions, 
and with the power of peculiar encouragement. 

Never before did human goodness and man's suf- 
ficiency appear so worthless or vanish so completely. 
Never was the soul brought so low or so dependent. 
Never was the heart so weaned from earth and 
earthly things. Never were obstructions so com- 
pletely removed from the path of the believing soul. 
And never did the absolute and incomparable suf- 
ficiency of Jesus, as an all-sufficient Savior, appear 
so supreme, so complete, so appropriate, so attract- 
ive, so sure, as he now seems to the soul believing 
at evening tide. 

The aged pilgrim really sees but one thing, de- 
sires but one thing, possesses but one thing. That 
is Jesus, an all -conquering, all-supplying Savior; 
bringing every thing, giving every thing, having 
every thing, securing every thing. Never was hope 
so clear, so adequate, or so glorified. " I am a great 
sinner. I have a great Savior." The past is filled 



INTRODUCTION. 

with his grace. The future is flowing with his 
glory. And Jesus, Jesus only, is " the Light at even- 
ing time." 

Such are the views, such are the emotions with 
which the evening of the soul on earth is blessed 
by its great Redeemer. These principles, thus il- 
lustrated, shine through this affecting and encour- 
aging compilation. And in the sure enjoyment of 
such blessings, through infinite grace, I commend 
the work to all my fellow-pilgrims in this evening 
time of life. 

Stephen H. Tyng, 



St. George's Kectory, New York,?/^^, 1873, 



/Past mi lint nff in tjjj tint* nf nlft itg? ; frank? m not tnlrBn raij 
strwgtjr foilrtji. 



3 mill gn in tljB stongtlj nf \\)i X'nri dgni : 3 mill make mrn- 
tintr nf tjm rigjjtairara, rat nf tljto ntthf, 

(D <0oft, tjjnti Ijnst fongljt mi frnm ttit{ tjntttji : xtntt jjitjiwta Jjabe 
3 telnrrt tjjq innu&rntrH mnrks. 

Until nlsa mtytn 3 urn nlfr nui gnnj-Jwtitrtt, <D #nfr, tank? nrc 
nnt; until 3 jw Bjjntnrtt tljtj stongtjr unfa tip gmrittinit, aui tjnj 
per tn mnj ni ijiat is ta urn*. ( nis tPsaim) 



Light at Evening Time. 



YO UTH RENEWED IN A GE. 

BY JAMES AV. ALEXANDER, D.D. 

Christian confidence and hope in God give fresh- 
ness, strength, and joy even in the period of old age. 
" They that wait on Jehovah" — or, in modern English, 
they that wait for him, who evince their trust in his 
goodness and power by patiently awaiting the fulfill- 
ment of his promises, they, though no longer young 
(mark the contrast with ver. 30) — " shall renew their 
strength : they shall mount up on wings like eagles ; 
they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk 
and not faint.' # The same thought is in the thanks- 
giving of the one hundred and third Psalm, verse 5 . 
" Bless the Lord, O my soul, who satisfieth thy 
mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renew- 
ed like the eagle's." From both we may conclu- 
sively gather that Divine grace has influences to 
bestow which can counteract and often annul the 
debilitating tendencies of old age. We are not au- 

* Isaiah xlix., 31. 

B 



10 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

thorized, it is true, to teach that any degree of re- 
ligious affection can turn back the shadow on the 
dial-plate, restore its auburn beauty to the gray 
head, or neutralize the physical causes of distress ; 
though even here, such is the power of spirit over 
matter, that history shows marvels of an almost 
youthful gladness in blessed Christian old age. 
But we may and can assert that he whose habits 
have been formed in a perpetual waiting upon God 
receives a hallowed unction of grace, .which, so to 
speak, makes him young again, or, more properly, 
keeps him from waxing old within. In the most 
rapid survey, we have considered some of the 
causes which makes this season of life formidable. 
All ages have observed them ; all philosophies have 
sought to destroy or lessen their force. The most 
accomplished of all Roman authors has left nothing 
more finished than his celebrated tract on Old Age 
(Cicero, De Senectute). Short of the meridian beam 
of revelation and its reflections, nothing ever showed 
more nobly; yet the ray of its consolations is but a 
beautiful moonlight. In vain is the venerable Cato 
introduced to teach us secrets which Cato never 
knew. In this gem-like treatise Cicero refers the 
troubles of age to four classes. Old age, so he tells 
us, is feared because (1.) it withdraws from the af- 
fairs of life ; because (2.) it brings infirmity of body : 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 11 

because (3.) it abridges or ends our pleasures ; and 
(4.) because it leads to death. Already, in treating 
of these several heads, much is said truly, ably, and, 
to a certain extent, satisfactorily, on the first and 
third topics, but on the last there is nothing but mel- 
ancholy conjecture. Even in regard to the other 
heads — of business, health, and pleasure — the sug- 
gestions are infinitely below those known by the 
humblest Christian rustic ; for what did this great 
and eloquent Roman know of the oil which grace 
pours into the sinking and almost expiring lamp ? 

RETIRING FROM BUSINESS. 

It is not to be denied, when we come with can- 
dor to the investigation, that, as a general truth, old 
age withdraws men from the employments of life, 
and seals up the active business years. In the great 
majority of instances, however, this retreat from la- 
bor is voluntarily sought long before the access of 
grave infirmity. Indeed, in prosperous communi- 
ties, many retire too early, under the chimerical 
hope of enjoying an elegant repose, for which they 
have made no provision by mental culture and dis- 
cipline of moral habits. There is, it is true, another 
sort of recession from productive labors which we 
occasionally observe in old men, and which arises 
wholly from an unchastenecl selfishnesSo Let any 



12 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

one grow wealthy without the warming and ex- 
panding influences of benevolence, and he will more 
and more lose his interest in all that is going on in 
the world. Even wars and revolutions touch him 
only in their financial aspects, and the daily journal 
is to him not so much a courier of news as a barom- 
eter of loss and gain. Without religion, the circle 
becomes more contracted. Friends have departed, 
by scores if not by hundreds. What cares he for 
mighty movements in behalf of humanity and holi- 
ness around him ? What cares he for posterity, 
the country, or the world, so that he can exalt his 
own gate, or die worth some round sum which floats 
before him as his heaven ? In the same degree he 
wraps himself in his mantle, which is daily shrink- 
ing to his own poor dimensions. This is misery 
indeed. Take away the blessed sun, and every 
thing becomes wintry, frozen, all but dead ; take 
away more blessed love, nnd the heart is dumb, 
cheerless, insulated, meanly poor, so that the Latins 
named such a one Miser. 

AGED CHRISTIANS STILL IN ACTIVE LIFE. 

Let us leave him, shivering in his cave, overhung 
with icicles, and come out into the evening sunshine 
to consider the aged believer. He is like Mnason, 
"an old disciple." He still learns. The Greek 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 13 

story tells us that when Solon lay dying, and over- 
heard some conversation on philosophy in his apart- 
ment, he raised his head and said, " Let me share in 
your conversation, for, though I am dying, I would 
still be learning." Ten thousand times has this been 
more reasonably exemplified in dying Christians, 
w ho consider the whole of this life as but the low- 
est form of the school into which they have been 
entered. And in regard to activity, while modes of 
service must vary with the bodily condition, we are 
bold to maintain that innumerable Christians now 
living are, in advanced life, impressing the whole en- 
gine of human affairs with as momentous a touch 
as at any previous stage of existence. If there is 
wisdom, the proper jewel of age, and divine grace 
in its manifold actings, there need be no lack of in- 
fluence. They still lift up the eagle pinion, and soar 
in such greatness as belongs to their nature. But 
the point to which we would ask more marked at- 
tention is this, that the aged believer, so far from 
being selfishly dead to what is going on in the world, 
is more vigilant, and more in sympathy with all, than 
even in his days of youth. Blessed be God, we 
have seen this again and again. The man who 
waits on God, the man of faith and hope, the man 
of melting benevolence, looks through the loop-holes 
of retreat upon a world whose vast and often terrific 



14 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 

revolutions interest him chiefly as included in a cy- 
cle of providential arrangements calculated to de- 
velop and exhibit the glory of grace. His heart 
beats responsive to these. The news of Christ's 
kingdom is as dear to him as when he was vehe- 
mently active in the field. He looks down the ages 
by the lamp of prophecy, and beholds events which 
will take place when he shall have been long in 
Paradise. This connects him with the cause of 
Christ on earth, and redeems him from that misera- 
ble dungeon-like seclusion of soul which wastes 
away the aged worldling. So far is it from being 
true that these portraitures are figments of religious 
imagination, that we have been led to the choice of 
the subject by knowledge and recollection of this 
very paradox in actual example — to wit, extreme 
old age made light, strong, and happy by commu- 
nity of interest in the progressive triumphs of phi- 
lanthropy and missions. 

THE SOUL MOUNTING TOWARD THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

When, according to the Talmudic fable, the eagle 
soars toward the sun, he renews the plumage of his 
former days. As the serene disciple withdraws 
himself from any personal agency in the entangling 
plans of life, he studies more profoundly what his 
Master is weaving into the web of history. No 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 15 

longer young, he has a heart which gushes in sym- 
pathy with the young. He cheers them on. He 
places the weapons in their hands. He takes from 
the wall his sword, shield, and helmet, and rejoices 
that God still has younger soldiers in the field. He 
lives his life over again in their achievements, and 
pictures to himself more signal victories after he 
shall have gone. Like the wounded hero, Wolfe, 
he could even die more happy if the shout of victory 
should arouse his failing perception. Far from be- 
ing shut up in morose, neglectful selfishness, he glo- 
ries that God's cause still lives and must prevail. 

CHRISTIANITY A SYSTEM OF INDEMNITIES. 

But, then, you retort, there is a sad infirmity in- 
separable from old age. Piety, however exalted, 
will not remove this. Of all diseases, this is pro- 
verbially the most incurable. Brethren, we might 
take the high ground that godliness hath the prom- 
ise of the life that now is ; that temperance and othei 
virtues prolong life and avert disease ; that the right- 
eous shall " see good days ;" and that religion is the 
best of all medicines. But, fearing lest we should 
be charged with exaggeration by the inexperienced, 
we will pitch our cause on a lower plane, and rest 
content with declaring that Christian confidence and 
hope confer a strength which is perfectly compati- 



i6 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

ble with all this bodily weakness, decay, and pain, 
Christianity, my readers, is a system of indemnities. 
It does not insure us exemption from all losses, but 
it guarantees that these shall be more than made 
up to us. True, the grand indemnification is at the 
recompense of the resurrection. But prelibations 
of glory are poured into the earthly vessels of grace. 
The quickening charm is not natural, but supernat- 
ural. Mark, in the twenty-eighth verse, how the 
eternal increate fount of good is pointed out ; and 
2earn how the fullness of God, through a Mediator, 
becomes the available supply of man. "Hast thou 
not known ? hast thou not heard, that the everlast- 
ing God, Jehovah, the creator of the ends of the 
earth, fainteth not, neither is weary ? There is no 
searching of his understanding. He giveth power 
to the faint." Here is human infirmity brought 
into connection with Omnipotence. Here is the so- 
lution of Pauls enigma, " When I am weak, then 
am I strong." Here is Christ's cordial to the aged, 
" My strength is made perfect in weakness." But 
let us return to our prophet. He represents even 
blooming adolescence as desponding, while the fee- 
ble are made powerful by faith. " Even the youths 
shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall 
utterly fall ; but they that wait on the Lord shall 
renew their strength." 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. IT 

THE JOY OF THE LOBD THE STRENGTH OF AGE. 

In the return from Babylon the oldest were sad- 
dest, for they remembered the glory of the first 
house, Nehemiah, therefore, had peculiar reference 
to them when he said to the weeping assembly, 
" Neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is 
your strength." Holy joy is a spring-head of re- 
newed youthfulness. The effects of grief and age 
are not unlike. How often have we seen a friend 
go into the house of mourning young and come out 
old ? Such was Davids experience (Psalm xxxii., 
3) : " My bones waxed old, through my moaning all 
the day long ; for day and night thy hand was heavy 
upon me : my moisture is turned into the draught of 
summer." The cedars and palms of the sanctuary, 
planted in the house of the Lord, " shall still bring 
forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourish- 
ing" (Psalm xcii.). Make a soul thoroughly glad, 
and you make it young. The effusion of divine joys 
has virtues to annul outward disabilities. For ob- 
serve the perfect analogy of another passage con- 
cerning strength (Isaiah xxxv.) : " Strengthen ye the 
weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees ; say to 
them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not !" 
" Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the 
tongue of the dumb shall sing." Such is grace, su- 



18 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

perseding nature, conciliating contraries, making the 
feeble mighty, and giving youth to the aged. And 
oh how greatly would our experience and observa- 
tion of the gift be increased if, with higher faith and 
expectation, we were waiting upon God ! 

The antechamber of the eternal abode is cold and 
appalling to nature This makes old age unwel- 
come to the unprepared. This causes the wretched 
shifts by which they avert the thought of doom. So 
successful is the delusion, that the man of seventy 
plans for to-morrow as if he were not already in 
many senses dead. No man is so old, says Cicero, 
but that he thinks he may live another day. And 
so from day to day, as by stepping-stones in the 
turbid stream, they totter on, till the sudden fall 
plunges them into eternity. 

THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

The fear of death, which on the young sometimes 
works salutary reflection, often becomes to the aged 
a motive for abstracting the thoughts from the hate- 
ful subject, and so they think of something else, and 
are damned. I dare not undertake to say what may 
be the reflections of the old worldling when he lies 
down for the last struggle, and finds that eternity is 
dawning on his soul, and yet that he has not made 
the least provision for meeting his God. But I know, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME 19 

for I have often seen, how strong in faith and hope 
may be the old age of the true Christian. After all, 
it is celestial hope which sheds the dew of youth on 
his silver locks. His posture is that of waiting, as 
watchers expect the dawn — "more than they that 
watch for the morning." Fresh blood seems to 
course through these outworn arteries as Hope 
waves the hand of indication toward perpetual spring 
and everlasting youth. Not in the mere elysian or 
Mohammedan sense, though we deny the attributes 
and enjoyments of that bodily complement of the 
soul which is to be raised in incorruption, in glory, 
in power, a spiritual body. But the fresh breath of 
knowledge, of reason, of truth, therefore of beauty, 
of love, of universal holiness, is wafted from those 
gardens to the ancient believer, as he worships, 
leaning on the top of his staff^ and sojourns a little 
in the land of Beulah. We have sometimes seen 
the clearness and vigor of former years come back. 
Call not that man old who is full of joys and halle- 
lujahs, and who is eager to drop the clog, shuffle 
off the mortal coil, and soar like a bird set free from 
the snare of the fowler. Call him old who is invet- 
erate in sin ; who never prays ; who dares not think 
.of death ; who is without God and without hope, 
and on whose hoary head no blessing ever descends. 
The Simeon who has Christ in his arms, has in him 



20 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

a well of water springing ; and so the true fountain 
of youth. All believing and sublime exercises of 
Christian experience have in them something as 
fresh as childhood. Once, when I was supporting 
a very aged believer from the house of God, he 
turned to me and said, " I never felt younger ; and 
I believe that promise is fulfilled in me, ' He satis- 
fieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth 
is renewed like the eagle's.' ' This persuasion, that 
true religion brings the soul into fellowship with all 
that is free, hopeful, and advancing in earth, and all 
that is bright and perfect in heaven, led the most 
distinguished of late German theologians, Schleier- 
macher, to say, in the close of a long life, " The true 
Christian is always young." 

THE SUBURBS OF HEAVEN. 

The racy old English of John Bunyan best sets 
forth this stage of pilgrimage. Here they heard 
continually the singing of birdc, and saw every day 
the flowers appear in the earth, and heard the voice 
of the turtle in the land. In this country the sun 
shineth night and day. Here they were within 
sight of the city they were going to : also they met 
some of the inhabitants thereof; for in this land the 
shining ones commonly walked, because it was upon 
the borders of heaven. In this land, also, the con- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME: 21 

tract between the Bride and Bridegroom was re- 
newed ; yea, here, "as the bridegroom rejoiceth over 
the bride, so doth their God rejoice over them." 
My beloved brethren, we must be submissive to 
God's will, even if such an evening of life be not 
vouchsafed to us. Yet I will maintain that it is of 
the nature of Christianity to produce such joys. 
The exceptions are not from grace, but from dis- 
turbing causes in our partially unsanctified hearts. 
Waiting on God is directly promotive of fresh and 
heavenly strength. The long -continued practice 
and rooted habit of waiting upon God, in confidence 
and expectation, are the best preparative for a se- 
rene decline and a happy end. 

THE WORLDLING'S NOTION OF DEATH. 

If the sentiment of the world may be safely judged 
from its reflection in the mirror of the fictitious lit- 
erature which is seized with most avidity and re- 
produced in the greatest number of languages, then 
unquestionably the opinion is that there is no hap- 
piness in evangelical piety, and an old age of relig- 
ion is one of sourness, vindictiveness, and misan- 
thropic woe. Let the picture of a Christian matron 
be painted by the matchless pencil of one whose 
misfortune it must have been never to have beheld 
the original, and with whom devotion and hypocrisy 



22 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

are the same, and the lineaments are such as these : 
" Great need had the rigid woman of her mystical 
religion, veiled in gloom and darkness, with light- 
nings of cursing, vengeance, and destruction flash- 
ing through the sable clouds." I quote from the 
ignorant and malignant travesty of Christian old 
age, which mars the most widely current story of 
the hour; and I quote it because it will meet re- 
sponse in hundreds of thousands who need the 
grace of Christ to avert these very storm-clouds of 
declining day. Let a holier literature prevail in the 
refined world — a literature which shall honor holy 
wedlock, family religion, and the Church of Christ — = 
and we shall behold other portraitures of the wife 
or the widow upon whom evangelical truth has shed 
its dews of eventide. 



THE HOARY HEAD A CR WN OF GL OR Y. 

While we call old age the winter of our life, we 
must beware lest we derogate from the bounty of 
our Maker, and disparage those blessings which he 
accounts precious, among which old age is none of 
the meanest. 

Had he not put that value upon it, would he have 
honored it with his own style, calling himself the 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 23 

" Ancient of Days ?" Would he have set out this 
mercy as a reward of obedience to himself, "I would 
fulfill the number of thy days ?" and of obedience to 
our parents, " To live long in the land ?" Would 
he have promised it as a marvelous savor to re- 
stored Jerusalem, now become a city of Truth, that 
"there shall yet old men and old women dwell in 
the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his 
staff in his hand for every age ?" Would he else 
have denounced it as a judgment to over-indulgent 
Eli, " There shall not be an old man in thy house 
forever ?" Far be it from us to despise that which 
God doth honor, and to turn his blessing into a 
curse. 

Yea, the same God who knows best the price of 
his own favors, as he makes no small estimation of 
age himself, so he hath thought fit to call for a high 
respect to be given to it, out of a holy awe to him- 
self: " Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, 
and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God. 
I am the Lord." Hence it is that he hath pleased 
to put together the "ancient" and the "honorable," 
and has told us that a hoary head is a crown of 
glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness ; 
and, lastly, makes it an argument of the deplored 
estate of Jerusalem that " they favored not the eld- 
ers." — Joseph Hall. 



24 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 



AT EVENING TIME IT SHALL BE LIGHT. 

HY Ki;\\ A. K. H. BOYD. 

The day of life, shall we think, is drawing to its 
close. It has been, on the whole, a sober day, with 
" the light not clear nor dark ;" there has been neither 
unvarying sunshine nor unvarying gloom ; there 
have been, no doubt, some great trials in it, and a host 
of little, insect cares, which do no worse than fret 
and annoy ; it has seemed, perhaps, a dull and weary 
thing, yet we have grown to like even its dullness 
and commonness ; it has had within it times of spe- 
cial elevation, love to the Redeemer, trust in God ; 
and it has had, too, its seasons of backsliding, of 
coldness and worldliness, of lack of interest in spir- 
itual engagements, of despondency, and almost of 
despair. For the day of grace goes by just such 
rules as the day of providence, and, save a few 
blessed and memorable believers, who have seemed 
to breathe the air of heaven even while they lived 
on earth, it is the general experience of even the 
earnest believer that his inward feeling, like his out- 
ward lot, is a checkered one, is in the main a sobered 
one — is shone upon by a light which is "not clear 
nor dark." But the evening of the long day is 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME 25 

drawing on at length — the day that dawned with 

the .sunny cheerfulness of infancy and childhood, 
that went on amid the growing cares of maturity, 
that sloped westerly amid the enfeebled powers and 
the flagging hopes of age ; and as the evening ad- 
vances,, as the hours go on in which the li^ht that 
had lasted through the day might naturally ^row 
less, strange how it oftentimes is that that unwea- 
ried light does but beam brighter and clearer ! It 
was but a cloudy day; but the Sun of Righteous- 
ness ha- broken through the clouds: the flaming 
west is all purple and gold : it is the evening time, 
and oh how fair its light! It has sometimes been, 
as in that beautiful story ; that the last steps before 
the dark river was reached lay through the land of 
Beulah; that already the brightness of the golden 
city shone from afar upon the believers face, and 
his sharpened ear could almost catch the fall of its 
ceaseless songs. I do not say that such a thing is 
common ; all I say is that such a thing has been, 
and wherefore should it not be again with you or 
me ? I shall not pretend to describe this happy 
state in my own words : I shall tell you about it in 
the words of one who spoke from his own experi- 
ence; and who. shortly before he died, wrote as thus : 
:i Were I to adopt the figurative language of Btm- 

yan. I might date this letter from the land of Bfcu- 

C 



26 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

lah, of which I have been for some weeks a happy 
inhabitant. The Celestial City is full in my view. 
Its glories have been upon me, its breezes fan me, 
its odors are wafted to me, its sounds strike upon 
my ears, and its spirit is breathed into my heart. 
Nothing separates me from it but the river of death, 
which now appears but as an insignificant rill, that 
may be crossed at a single step whenever God shall 
give permission. The Sun of Righteousness has 
been gradually drawing nearer and nearer, appear- 
ing larger and brighter as he approached, and now 
he fills the whole hemisphere, pouring forth a flood 
of glory, in which I seem to float like an insect in 
the beams of the sun; exulting, yet almost trem- 
bling, while I gaze on this excessive brightness, and 
wondering with unutterable wonder why God should 
deign thus to shine upon a sinful worm." There, 
my readers, are words dictated by experience. That 
is what was actually written by a dying man. And 
oh ! what need I add to it to make you feel how glo- 
rious a sermon it is upon the blessed promise that 
"at the evening time there shall be light." 

But then you will say to me, and say it truly, that 
it is not always so. Not only is it not the case that 
all who have " died the death of the righteous" have 
thus tranquilly, fearlessly, hopefully, triumphantly 
passed away, but has not such a thing been known 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 27 

as that one who was a true Christian, if true Chris- 
tian ever breathed, died absolutely in despair ? Oh, 
who can forget the story of that sweet and gentle 
poet, who would take nothing to himself at the last 
of the comfort his words have given to others; 
whose latest lines sadly tell us how his soul was 
whelmed in deeper than Atlantic depths ; who re- 
garded himself as doomed to everlasting perdition, 
and who shuddered at the very mention of the name 
of that blessed Redeemer who was looking down in 
kindness upon his wayward child ! But, then, let me 
remind you that, fine as was that poet's mind, it was 
a mind unhinged and deranged ; and however the 
Holy Spirit works upon the renewed soul, he no 
more sets himself to cure hereditary diseases of the 
mind than those of the body. Religion does not 
alter temperament : it leaves the cheerful man cheer- 
ful ; it leaves the anxious, desponding man still prone 
to look at the future through the haze of anxiety 
and fear. It no more pretends to cure that hered- 
itary taint, that overshadowing gloom that all his 
life had its grasp of Cowper's mind, than it pretends 
to weed out the family consumption or apoplexy 
from the Christian's body ; and never let us forget 
that constitutional temperament, and the depressing 
influence of many forms of disease, may make dark 
and distressful the dying-bed of the very best be- 



28 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

lievers. Perhaps, even with true Christians, the 
death is as the life was, the evening is what the day 
was — "not clear nor dark" — as the general rule, 
There are blessed hopes, but there are also distress- 
ing fears. And shall we say, then, that this text 
does not speak truth ? No, far from that. The 
light does come, and it comes at evening ; but even- 
ing is the close of day, and the light may perhaps 
not beam forth until the day has entirely closed. 
Not upon this side of time may the blessed promise 
find its fulfillment. The foot may be dipped in the 
chill dark river before the heavenly light has shone 
upon the face. The eye may be blind to dearest 
faces and forms ere the Sun of Righteousness 
dawns, as in the natural world the darkest, coldest 
hour is that before the daybreak. The tongue may 
never be able to tell surviving loved ones how the 
shadows fled away when the dark valley was past 
till they have passed that darkness too. Yes, to the 
believer, true as God liveth, " at the evening time 
there shall be light ;" if not in this world, then in a 
better ! Bowing his head to pass under the dark 
portal, the believer lifts it up on the other side in 
the presence and the light of God. It is but a sin- 
gle step from the darkness of death into the light 
of immortality ; and if the evening should remain 
gloomy to its very end, all the brighter will seem 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 29 

the glory when the latest breath has parted. I told 
you how that Christian poet passed away almost in 
despair ; how the gloom that overshadowed his spirit 
endured all but to the end ; but even in the last mo- 
ment there came a wonderful change, and they tell 
us how even on his dead face there remained, till it 
was hidden forever, a look of bright, and beautiful, 
and sudden surprise ; the light at evening had been 
long in coming, but oh ! it had come at last. 

There is something very touching about the story 
of that eminent teacher, the most eminent of his 
time, who, when his mind wandered in the weak- 
ness of the dying hour, fancied himself among his 
pupils, engaged in his accustomed work, and whose 
last words, when the shadow of death was falling 
deeper, were, " It grows dark, boys ; you may go." 
There is something touching, too, in the parting 
scene of that great poet, dying as the sun was go- 
ing down in its summer glory, who bade his friends 
raise him that he might see the light once more — 
open the window that he might look upon the set- 
ting sun again before his eyes should close upon 
the earthly light forever. And very strange it is, 
indeed, to stand, as some of us may have stood, in 
the chamber of death, and in the west to see the 
summer sunset blazing, and the golden rays shining 
upon the still face and the closed eyes which never 



30 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

shall open more till the sun has ceased to shine. 
But it is only to us who remain that the evening 
darkness is growing — only for us that the sun is 
going down. Oh, look on the fixed features of that 
disciple now asleep in Jesus, and think, as the 
prophet spake, " Thy sun shall no more go down, 
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord 
shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy 
mourning shall be ended." And oh ! my readers, tell 
me, as the evening falls on you, but not on him ; as 
the shadows deepen on you, but not on him ; as the 
darkness gathers on you, but not on him, if now, at 
last, the glorious promise has not found its perfect 
fulfillment, that " at the evening time there shall be 
light." 



"REMEMBER LOTS WIFE." 
The disobedience of Lot's wife was not that she 
went to Sodom, but that she looked back. Doubt- 
less she verily thought that she was pressing unto 
safety ; but her heart was not right in her. She 
was disobedient in will, and in the hankerings and 
longings of the mind. .... She looked back, and 
that forbidden gaze betrayed a multitude of un- 
chastened thoughts and a world of disobedience. — 
H. E. Manning 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 31 

OLD AGE. {A PARABLE.) 

Siegfried, a farmer of ninety years of age, sat 
in his arm-chair, and saw not the day, for he was 
blind ; yet he was patient, and thought, " Soon will 
the day of my redemption appear." It was now 
spring. 

His grandson, Herman, came out of the field, and 
with joy told the old man of the fruitfulness of the 
year and the hopefulness of the crops. 

The old farmer asked, " Have the trees already 
put forth their leaves ?" The youth wondered at 
the question, and replied, " Long ago, dear grandpa. 
Yesterday I brought you a twig of blossoms, and a 
rose too." 

Siegfried smiled and said, " Yes, my dear son, 
your yesterday and to-day are no more for me; 
and your flowers have lost their fragrance for me." 
Afterward he asked, " Do the nightingales and larks 
sing ?" The youth leaned down to him, for he was 
deaf and said, " Yes, dear grandpa ; shall I not take 
you into the garden ?" 

The old man smiled, saying, "If you can lend me 
also your hearing ; otherwise of what use will it be 
to me to be taken out ?" A little after he said, " Go 
you out again, and bring me little Trude, that some 
one may be with me in my dark room." The youth 



32 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

replied, with faltering voice, " Ah ! dearest grandpa, 
Trude is not at home." 

" Where is she, then, the dear child V asked Sieg- 
fried ; and the young man replied, with choked 
voice, "She has been buried three months," The 
old man smiled and wept at the same time, and said, 
" Oh, yes ; she is already at home, and it is time I 
follow her." 

When the mother of the house, the old manls 
daughter, who had come into the chamber, heard 
this, she fell on the neck of the blind father, and wet 
his eyes with her tears ; and Herman wept too, and 
took the old man's hand. 

Siegfried then raised himself up and said, " Chil- 
dren, be not troubled, and let it not distress you that 
the world and time to me have vanished, and I have 
become a child. How should it be otherwise ? I 
stand at the entrance of my Father's house, and my 
weak old age is the infancy of eternity." — F.W. 
Krummacher. 



CHRISTIAN PR GRESS. 

Christian progress is only possible in Christ. It 
is a very lofty thing to be a Christian, for a Chris- 
tian is a man who is restoring God's likeness to 
his character, and therefore the apostle calls it a 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 33 

high calling. High as heaven is the calling where- 
with we are called. But this very height makes it 
seem impracticable, It is natural to say, "All that 
was well enough for one so transcendently gifted 
as Paul to hope for, but I am no gifted man ; I 
have no iron strength of mind ; I have no sanguine 
hopefulness of character ; I am disposed to look on 
the dark side of things ; I am undetermined, weak, 
vacillating ; and then I have a whole army of pas- 
sions and follies to contend with." We have to 
remind such men of one thing they have forgotten. 
It is the high calling of God, if you will ; but it is 
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. What the 
world calls virtue is a name and a dream without 
Christ. The foundation of all human excellence 
must be laid deep in the blood of the Redeemer's 
cross and in the power of his resurrection. First 
let a man know that all his past is wrong and sin- 
ful, then let him fix his eye on the love of God in 
Christ loving him, even him the guilty one. Is 
there no strength in that ? no power in the knowl- 
edge that all that is gone by is gone, and that a 
fresh, clear future is open ? It is not the progress 
of virtue that God asks for, but progress in saint- 
liness, empowered by hope and love. — F.W.Rob- 
ertson. 



34 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

SUCH A ONE AS PA UL THE A GED. 

And what was Paul in the moment here repre- 
sented ? Verily an aged servant of his Master, but 
not retired from the scene of action. Paul, though 
grown old in the Lord's service, was still as hotly 
engaged as ever in the Lord's battle, Art thou 
such a one, my soul, as Paul was? Then learn 
from hence that, however many or however heavy 
former campaigns have been, there is no rest for 
thee this side Jordan, no more than for Paul ; no 
winter quarters for the true soldiers of Jesus Christ. 
Until thy Captain undress thee for the grave, the 
holy armor in which he hath clad thee is not to be 
taken off. Art thou such a one as Paul the aged ? 
Then, like Paul, see that thou art strong in the Lord, 
and in the power of his might And how sweet the 
thought ! Thy Jesus, who hath borne thee from the 
womb, and carried thee from the belly, knows well 
the burden of thy increasing years, and all the in- 
firmities belonging to them, and will carry both thee 
and them. Yes, my soul, those very infirmities which 
the tenderest-hearted friend sometimes feels impa- 
tient at, and even thyself thou knowest not how to 
bear, Jesus feels, Jesus commiserates, Jesus will 
soften ! He that hath carried all thy sins, carrieth 
also thy sorrows. Doth he not say so ? Even 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 35 

to your old age I am he ; and even to hoar hairs 
I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; 
even I will carry, and will deliver you (Isaiah xlvi., 
3, 4). Precious Lamb of God ! henceforth I cast 
all my burdens upon thee. Thou hast never called 
thyself / Am for nothing. Thou hast indeed made 
me, and new-made me. Thou hast borne all my 
sins in thine own body on the tree. Art thou not 
both the Alpha and Omega, both the Author and 
Finisher of my salvation ? Oh, yes, thou hast been 
every thing to me, and for me, from the womb of 
creation ; borne me on eagles' wings ; made me, 
and new-made me ; redeemed me in a thousand re- 
demptions, and been better to me than all my fears ! 
What, indeed, hast thou not done for me ? And 
now, then, being such a one as Paul the aged, shall 
I now doubt or now fear when every pain, and 
every cross, and every new assault from sin and 
Satan bid me go to Jesus ? Oh ! for grace ever to 
keep in view what thou hast said and done, and 
what thou hast promised. Yes, yes, it is enough ; 
Jesus hath said, " Even to your old age I am he, 
The same I have been, the same I will ever be ; I 
will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Shout, my 
soul, and cry out Hallelujah ! He that hast been my 
first will be my last — my strength, my song, my 
salvation forever! — Robert Hawker. 



36 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

HAPPINESS OF AGE. 

As ripe fruit is sweeter than green fruit so is age 
sweeter than youth, provided the youth were grafted 
into Christ. As harvest-time is a brighter time than 
seed-time, so is age brighter than youth — that is, if 
youth were a good seed-time for good. As the 
completion of a work is more glorious than the be- 
ginning, so is age more glorious than youth — that 
is, if the foundation of the work of God were laid in 
youth. As sailing into port is a happier thing than 
the voyage, so is age happier than youth — that is, 
when the voyage from youth is made with Christ 
at the helm.— J. Pulsford. 



SIMPLE FAITH. 
A Christian friend, calling upon a poor old wom- 
an in Scotland, found her in great pain, and ex- 
pressed sorrow at seeing her suffer so much. " Oh," 
said Jeannie, "it's just an answer to prayer. You 
see, I've lang prayed to be conformed to the image 
of Christ; and since this is the means, I've naething 
to do wi' the choosin' o' them. That's the end I seek. 
It is ours to aim at meetness for his presence, and to 
leave it to his wisdom to do his ain way wi' us. I 
\vould rather suffer than sin, ony day." — Anon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 37 

JOB. (A PARABLE.) 

In Job's time there lived a prophet of the Lord, 
in the land of Uz, named Eliud, to whom came Jo- 
ram, a friend of Job, and said, " The ways of the 
Lord are inscrutable ; but wherefore must the right- 
eous suffer so much ? Behold, Job has lost all his 
possessions and goods ; his children have been 
taken from him by death, and those who should 
console him torment him with reproaches and bit- 
ter disease ; he himself is afflicted with disease, and 
is full of sores from the sole of his foot even to his 
head." 

" The hand of the Lord has touched him," an- 
swered the prophet. 

" And yet," pronounced Joram, " Job is pious, and 
fears God more than any one in the land. Did he 
not save the oppressed when they cried unto him, 
and the orphan who had none to help ? Was he 
not a father to the poor, eyes to the blind, and feet 
to the lame ? Righteousness was his garment ; and 
the eye that saw him blessed Job, and pronounced 
him happy." 

"Blessed is the man whom the Almighty disci- 
plines," answered the prophet. 

" Is not, then, the Almighty also the All-merciful ?" 
said Joram. "Wherefore did he need discipline, 



38 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

who, converting God's gifts so kindly into blessings, 
maintained a godly walk and conversation before 
all the world ?" 

" That he might also have a conscience void of 
offense before God," answered the prophet. 

"What other offering could Job yet bring to 
him ?" asked Joram. 

" The most difficult and most valuable," answered 
the prophet — " his will." — F. W. Krummacher. 



REACHING FORWARD. 

Let each man put this question to himself: " Dare 
I look on ?" With an earnest Christian, it is reach- 
ing forth to those things which are before. Prog- 
ress- ever. And then, just as we go to rest in this 
world tired, and wake up fresh and vigorous in the 
morning, so does the Christian go to sleep in the 
world's night, weary with the work of life, and then 
on the resurrection-day he wakes in his second and 
his brighter morning. It is well for a believer to 
look on. Dare you ? Remember, out of Christ, it 
is not wisdom, but madness to look on. You must 
look back, for the longest and best day is either 
past or passing. It will be winter soon — desolate, 
uncheered, hopeless winter ; old age, with its drear- 
iness, and its disappointments, and its querulous 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 39 

broken-heartedness ; and there is no second spring 
for you, no resurrection - morning blessedness to 
dawn on the darkness of your grave. God has only 
one method of salvation, "the Cross of Christ." God 
can have only one ; for the Cross of Christ means 
death to evil, life to good. There is no other way 
to salvation but that, for that in itself is, and alone 
is, salvation. Out of Christ, therefore, it is woe to 
the man who reaches forth to the things which are 
before. To such I say, "My unhappy brethren, 
Omnipotence itself can not change the darkness 
of your destiny." — F, W. Robertson. 



THE WALK OF FAITH. 
.... This walk by faith takes in all the minute 
circumstances of every day's history ; a walking ev- 
ery step by faith, a looking above trials, above ne- 
cessities, above perplexities, above improbabilities, 
above impossibilities, above all second causes, and, 
in the face of difficulties and discouragements, going 
forward, leaning upon God. If the Lord were to roll 
the Red Sea before us, and marshal the Egyptians 
behind us, and, thus hemming us in on every side, 
should yet bid us advance, it would be the duty and 
the privilege of faith instantly to obey, believing that, 
ere our feet touched the water, God, in our extrem- 



40 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

ity, would divide the sea, and take us dry-shod over 
it. This is the only holy and happy life of a be- 
liever ; if he for a moment leave this path, and at- 
tempt to walk by sight, difficulties will throng around 
him, troubles will multiply, the smallest trials will 
become heavy crosses, temptations to depart from 
the single and upright path will increase in number 
and power, the heart will sicken at disappointment, 
the spirit will be grieved, and God will be disap- 
pointed. — Mary Winslow. 



"ONE IN CHRIST" 

I have seen a field here and a field there stand 
thick with corn ; a hedge or two has separated them. 
At the proper seasons the reapers entered ; soon the 
earth was disburdened, and the grain was conveyed 
to its destined resting-place, where, blended together 
in the barn or in the stack, it could not be known 
that a hedge had ever separated this corn from that. 
Thus it is with the Church. Here it grows, as it 
were, in different fields, and even, it may be, separa- 
ted by different hedges. By-and-by, when the har- 
vest is come, all God's wheat shall be gathered into 
the garner, without one single mark to distinguish 
that once they differed in outward circumstantials 
of form and order. — A. M. Toplady. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 41 



A PSALM FOR THE AGED.— THE LXXIst. 

Ver. 1-3. The old man, cast down by the visita- 
tions of divine Providence, appears before his God. 
He is supported by the promise of the Lord that 
those who trust in him shall never be put to confu- 
sion, and his faith, confirmed by the experience of 
his whole life, that the Lord is indeed a rock and a 
fortress. 

Ver. 4-8. He has a solid foundation — the expe- 
rience of a long life. He has clung to faith and 
hope throughout the entire period of his existence 
— even from his youth, when lightsomeness presents 
so powerful an obstacle to their exertion. His ex- 
perience is of an extraordinary kind ; he is as a 
wonder unto many ; and the excellence of his expe- 
rience arises from having sought in the Lord his 
only refuge. He did not, like most men, recognize 
the hand of God only when in an extraordinary 
manner it became manifest in life, but his eye of 
faith regards the ordinary works of God as miracles. 
The translation from his mother's womb to the light 

of day is to him an object of praise Is not 

the reason of our finding so little to praise to be 
sought in our having no eyes for his daily mercies ? 
The Psalmist has eyes for the daily mercies of the 



42 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Lord, and therefore his mouth is daily full of the 
praise of the Lord. 

Ver. 9-13. If God did help in the time of youth 
and manhood, when our own strength aided us to 
overcome many difficulties, how much more will his 
strength deliver us when ours is gone — especially 
when the wicked challenge his mighty arm! For 
God will never suffer it to be said that he forsakes 
those who all their life long have not forsaken 
him. 

Ver. 14, 15. But, whatever may happen, the Psalm- 
ist will not cease to persevere even in the night of 
tribulation. Though unable to proclaim the salva- 
tion of God as the result of actual present experi- 
ence, he does it by faith and hope. He is sure that 
the continuous flow of his most ardent praise is al- 
ways greatly surpassed by his salvation. 

Ver. 16. Weak in himself, his faith assures him 
of strength through the strength of the Lord God. 
And as those who wait upon the Lord shall renew 
their strength, and mount up with wings as eagles, 
so the old man is seen walking in that strength 
which comes from above. The praise which youth 
bestows on earthly goods, because still unacquaint- 
ed with their insufficiency, lies far behind him. The 
praise which manhood, in the proud consciousness 
of its own strength, bestows on the strength of man, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 43 

he has seen turned to shame. Of all things which 
men are wont to praise in old age, one only is left 
as praiseworthy — the righteousness and goodness 
of the Lord. This is the proper employment of 
old age ; the supports of earth must diminish in 
our estimate in the measure as we recede from 
them. 

Ver. 17-19. He regards it as the chief concern 
of his life to proclaim the wondrous works of God ; 
if spared any longer on earth, that shall be the end 
of his life. Are there better preachers of the works 
of God to be found than hoary parents in the circle 
of their children, or grandparents in that of their 
grandchildren ? 

Ver. 20, 21. The public sufferings of the nation 
seem to have brought low into the dust his great- 
ness, but he hopes to share the elevation of his 
people. 

Ver. 22-24. We think it a lovely sight to see an 
old man spend his days in singing the praise of 
God with trembling lips to the notes of the harp, 
and there is no more beauteous sight to God ; and 
the notes of that harp ascend up to the highest 
heavens. Faith did inspire the pious old man with 
his confidence ; his future songs of praise became 
therefore the foundation of his hope. — A. Tholuck. 



44 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

OBLIVION OF THE PAST. 
Up to a certain period of life it is the tendency 
of man to look forward. There is a marvelous 
prodigality with which we throw away our present 
happiness when we are young, which belongs to 
those who feel that they are rich in happiness, and 
never expect to be bankrupts. It almost seems one 
of the signatures of our immortality that we squan- 
der time as if there were a dim consciousness that 
we are in possession of an eternity of it ; but as we 
arrive at middle age it is the tendency of man to 
look back. To a man of middle life, existence is 
no longer a dream, but a reality. He has not much 
more new to look forward to, for the character of 
his life is generally fixed by that time. His profes- 
sion, his home, his occupations will be, for the most 
part, what they are now. He will make few new 
acquaintances — no new friends. It is the solemn 
thought connected with middle age that life's last 
business is begun in earnest ; and it is then, midway 
between the cradle and the grave, that a man begins 
to look back, and marvels with a kind of remorseful 
feeling that he let the days of youth go by so half 
enjoyed. It is the pensive autumn feeling; it is the 
sensation of half sadness that we experience when 
the longest day of the year is past, and every day 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 45 

that follows is shorter, and the lights fainter, and the 
feebler shadows tell that Nature is hastening with 
gigantic footsteps to her winter grave. So does 
man look back upon his youth. When the first 
gray hairs become visible, when the unwelcome 
truth fastens itself upon the mind that a man is no 
longer going up the hill, but down, and that the sun 
is already westering, he looks back on things be- 
hind. Now this is a natural feeling, but is it the 
high Christian feeling ? In the language of the text 
(Philippians iii., 13, 14), we may assuredly answer 
No. We who have an inheritance incorruptible 
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, what have 
we to do with things past? When we were chil- 
dren, we thought as children. But now there lies 
before us manhood, with its earnest work ; and then 
old age, and then the grave, and then home. And 
so manhood in the Christian's life is a better thing 
than boyhood, because it is a riper thing ; and old 
age ought to be a brighter, and a calmer, and a 
more serene thing than manhood. This is a second 
youth for man, better and holier than his first, if he 
will look on and not back. There is a peculiar 
simplicity of heart and a touching singleness of 
purpose in Christian old age, which has ripened 
gradually and not fitfully. It is then that to the 
wisdom of the serpent is added the harmlessness 



46 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

of the dove; it is then that to the firmness of man- 
hood is joined almost the gentleness of womanhood; 
it is then that the somewhat austere and sour char- 
acter of growing strength, moral and intellectual, 
mellows into the rich ripeness of old age, made 
sweet and tolerant by experience ; it is then that 
man returns to first principles. There comes a love 
more pure and deep than the boy could ever feel; 
there comes a conviction, with a strength beyond 
that which the boy could ever know, that the ear- 
liest lesson of life is infinite, Christ is all in all. — 
F. W. Robertson. 



SUSPENSE. 
Suspense has been one of the most trying features 
of my case. Just as I have unclasped my hand 
from my dear Ernest's ; just as I have let go my 
almost frantic hold of my darling children ; just as 
heaven opened before me, and I fancied my weari- 
ness over and my wanderings done, just then almost 
every alarming symptom would disappear, and life 
recall me from the threshold of heaven itself. Thus 
I have been emptied from vessel to vessel, till I have 
learned that he only is truly happy who has no lon- 
ger a choice of his own, and lies passive in God's 
hands. — Mrs. E. Prentiss, "Stepping Heavenward." 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 47 

CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 

Then I saw in my dream that the Interpreter 
took Christian by the hand, and led him into a place 
where was a fire burning against a wall, and one 
standing by it, always casting much water upon it to 
quench it ; yet did the fire burn higher and better. 

Then said Christian, " What means this ?" The 
Interpreter answered, "This fire is the work of 
grace that is wrought in the heart; he that casts 
water upon it to extinguish and put it out is the 
devil ; but in that thou seest the fire, notwithstand- 
ing, burn higher and better, thou shalt also see the 
reason of that." So he led him about to the back 
side of the wall, where he saw a man with a vessel 
of oil in his hand, of which he did also continually 
cast (but secretly) into the fire. 

Then said Christian, " What means this ?" The 
Interpreter said, " This is Christ, who continually, 
with the oil of his grace, maintains the work already 
begun in the heart, by the means of which, notwith- 
standing what the devil can do, the souls of his peo- 
ple prove gracious still. And in that thou sawest 
that the man stood behind the wall to maintain the 
fire, this is to teach thee that it is hard for the 
tempted to see how this work of grace is main- 
tained in the soul. — John Bcjnyan 



48 LIGHT AT E VENING TIME. 



NECESSITY OF CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 

No grace, no, not even the most sparkling and 
shining grace, can bring a man to heaven of itself 
without perseverance ; not faith, which is the cham- 
pion of grace, if it be faint and fail ; nor love, which 
is the nurse of grace, if it decline and wax cold ; 
nor humility, which is the adorner and beautifier of 
grace, if it continue not to the end ; not obedience, 
not repentance, not patience, no, nor any other 
grace, except they have their perfect work. It is 
not enough to begin well except we end well. Ma- 
nasseh and Paul began ill. but ended well ; Judas 
and Demas began well, but ended ill. — Thomas 
Brooks. 



GOD UNCHANGEABLE. 

God asks no rest and requires no slumber, but 
holds straight on without weariness ; wearing out 
the ages, himself unworn ; changing all things, him- 
self without variableness or shadow of turning. 
God is like the sun at noon, that casts down straight 
rays, and so throws down the shadows upon the 
ground underneath each tree ; but he never, like the 
sun, goes westward toward his setting, turning all 
shadows from under the trees, and slanting them 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 49 

upon the ground. God stands in eternal fullness, 
like a sun that knows neither morning, nor evening, 
nor night, but only noon, and noon always. — H. W 
Beecher. 



ENDURING TO THE END. 

Think of Christ's appointed work, the greatest 
that ever was to be done on the earth ; so great as 
to be a counteraction to all the sins of all the saved ! 
and at an awful cost of endurance. What toils, 
what grievances, what terrors (as to his humanity) 
attends his mighty task ! But if he had been "wea- 
ried," and left but one thing undone ! If he had 
shrunk and failed, what sensation in heaven — hell — 
earth ! Let his followers advert to that when tempt- 
ed to shrink from service, and to say it is too much. 
When this repugnance arises, go and look at him ! 
Even imagine as if any given Christian service 
had been to be performed in his presence — undei 
his inspection, would you then be weary ? He is a 
grand, transcendent example to show that a good 
work must be gone through with ; to constitute it 
such, the conclusion is indispensable : " He that en- 
dureth to the end shall be saved ;" " He that look- 
eth back is not fit for the kingdom of God." — John 
Foster. 



50 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE HOL Y JER USALEM. 

Jerusalem, my happy home, 

Name ever dear to me, 
"When shall my labors have an end, 

In joy, and peace, and thee ? 

When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls 

And pearly gates behold \ 
Thy bulwarks with salvation strong, 

And streets of shining gold ? 

There happier bowers than Eden's bloom, 

Nor sin nor sorrow know; 
Bless' d seats ! through rude and stormy scenes 

I onward press to you. 

Why should I shrink from pain and woe, 

Or feel at death dismay ? 
I've Canaan's goodly land in view, 

And realms of endless day. 

Apostles, martyrs, prophets there 

Around my Savior stand ; 
And soon my friends in Christ below 

Will join the glorious band. 

Jerusalem, my happy home ! 

My soul still pants for thee ; 
Then shall my labors have an end 

When I thy joys shall see. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 51 

LOOKING WESTWARD. 

"I love the western sky," said one who was af- 
flicted in spirit; "it seems to carry my thoughts 
away to another country and a brighter morrow." 

There is often something so unearthly about the 
sky at sunset ; those golden rays, darting from be- 
hind the purple clouds, how full they seem of hope 
and promise ! and on stormy evenings, when the 
" sun sets weeping," and gives prospect of a dreary 
day to come, I love to think of those distant coun- 
tries where every day he shines as yesterday in 
cloudless splendor; and the thought of those distant 
countries leads me onward to "the land which is 
very far off," where this earthly sun will have ceased 
to rise and set, and where the glory of the Lord will 
be the light in which we shall live, and move, and 
have our being. — Anon. 



TESTIMONY OF AN A GED CHRISTIAN 

I leave it as my testimony (writes Isabella Gra- 
ham, in the sixtieth year of her age) that God has 
been a father to, the fatherless, a husband to the 
widow, the stranger's shield, and orphan's stay. 
Even to hoar years and old age he has carried me, 
and not one good word has failed of all that he has 



52 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

promised. " He has done all things well ;" and at 
this day I am richer and happier than ever I was in 
my life. Not that I am yet made free from sin ; 
that is still my burden ; want of love and gratitude, 
indolence in commanded duty, self-will, and nestling 
in the creature. But my heart's wish and earnest 
desire is conformity. The bent of my will is for 
God, and, if my heart deceive me not, my God is 
the centre of my best affections. This God is my 
God. He will guide me even unto death, through 
death, and be my portion through eternity. 



MILTON ON HIS BLINDNESS. 
When I consider how my light is spent 
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, 
And that one talent which is death to hide, 
Lodgd with me useless, though my soul more bent 
To serve therewith my Master, and present 
My true account, lest he return and chide : 
" Doth God exact day-labor, light denied ?" 
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent 
That murmur, soon replies, " God cloth need 
Neither man's work nor his own gifts ; who best 
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best : his state 
Is kingly ; thousands at his bidding speed, 
And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; 
They also serve who only stand and wait." — Milton. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 53 

THE NIGHT- WA TCH. 

Watch ye, therefore ; for ye know not when the master 
of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock- 
crowing, or in the morning ; lest coming suddenly he find 
you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, 
Watch. — Mark xiii., 35-37. 

The Church must fulfill her night-watch. Wheth- 
er long or short, perilous or easy, she must fulfill it. 
It is watching to which she is specially called ; and 
sadly will she belie her profession, as well as dis- 
obey her Lord, if she watches not. She need not 
think to substitute other duties for this, as more 
needful, more important, or more in character. She 
dare not say, " I love, I believe, I pray, I praise, why 
should I also watch ? Will not these do instead 
of watching, or is not watching included in these ?" 
Her Lord has bidden her watch, and no other duty, 
no other grace, can be a substitute or excuse for this. 

She is to believe ; but that is not all — she is also 
to watch. She is to rejoice; but that is not all — 
she is also to watch. She is to love ; but that is 
not all — she is also to watch. She is to wait ;. but 
that is not all — she is also to watch. She is to 
long; but that is not all — she is also to watch. 
This is to be her special attitude, and nothing can 
compensate for it. By this she is to be known in 



54 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

all ages as the watching one. By this the world is 
to be made to feel the difference between itself and 
her. By this she is specially to show how truly she 
feels herself to be a stranger here. 

Men ask her, " Why stand ye gazing up into 
heaven ?" Her reply is, " I am watching.'' Men 
taunt her, and say, " Why this unrestfulness ?" Her 
reply is, " I am watching." Men think it strange 
that she runs not with them to the same excess of 
riot (1 Peter iv., 4). She tells them, " I am watch- 
ing." They ask her to come forth and join their 
gayety, to come forth and sing their songs, to come 
forth and taste their pleasures, that thus they may 
teach her to forget her sorrows. She refuses, say- 
ing, " I dare not ; I am watching." The scoffer 
mocks her, and says, "Where is the promise of his 
coming ?" She heeds not, but continues watching, 
and clasps her hope more firmly. — H. Bonar. 



STRENGTH SUFFICIENT FOR THE JO A Y. 

Oh, ask not thou, " How shall I bear 

The burden of to-morrow V 
Sufficient for to-day its care, 

Its evil, and its sorrow ; 
God impart etli by the way 

Strength sufficient for the day. — Anon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 55 

THE FINISHING OF THE TEMPLE. 
Suppose, then, the period arrived when the scaf- 
folding is struck down and the rubbish moved away; 
that is, suppose this earth, which was the stage for 
its erection, now moved from beneath it, and the 
wicked, the refuse of mankind, cast far away out of 
sight. Conceive that you see nothing but the build- 
ing. Lo ! it stands high in view, for the admiration 
of the surrounding universe. " Walk about Zion, 
and go round about her; tell the towers thereof; 
mark ye well her bulwarks ; consider her palaces, 
that ye may tell it to the generation following." 
What is her foundation ? The Rock of Ages ! 
Who is her inhabitant ? Her inhabitant is God ! 
Not a flaw nor a blemish is to be seen ; every stone 
is in its proper place, and all contributing to the 
beauty of the whole ! No want of symmetry in the 
general outline plan, nothing imperfect in the exe- 
cution of each part. Behold, it stands an eternal 
monument to the glory of God — of his power, and 
wisdom, and grace ! It is all bright and glorious, 
wherever you take your view of it; radiating in 
every part with the beamings of divine glory ! Her 
light is like unto a stone most precious, even like a 
jasper! It is a temple of souls ! Every stone is a 
living soul — blood-bought spirit! Every one is a 



56 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

chosen warrior, who has fought his battle in his 
days, and has conquered ! They have come out 
of great tribulation to be stones for this building. 
Affliction gave them their polish, and the cement 
which unites them is love. — H. Martyn. 



MY TONGUE SHALL SPEAK OF THY PRAISE. 

The middle, we may observe, and the safest, and 
the fairest, and the most conspicuous places in cities 
are usually deputed for the erection of statues and 
monuments dedicated to the memory of worthy men, 
who have nobly deserved of their country. In like 
manner should we, in the heart and centre of our 
soul, in the best and highest apartments thereof, in 
the places most exposed to ordinary observation, 
and most secure from the invasions of worldly care, 
erect lively representations and lasting memorials 
unto the divine bounty ; constantly attending to 
which we may be disposed to gratitude. Not one 
blessing, not the least favorable passage of provi- 
dence, ought to perish with us, though long since 
passed, and removed out of the sphere of present 
sense. If a grateful affection lies in our hearts, it 
will respire through our mouths, and discover itself 
in the motion of our lips. Neither shall we content 
ourselves in lonesome tunes and private soliloquies 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 57 

to whisper out the divine praises, but shall loudly 
excite and provoke others to a melodious conso- 
nancy with us ; we shall — we, the sweet singers of 
Israel — cite and invoke heaven and earth, the celes- 
tial choir of angels, the several estates and genera- 
tions of men, the numberless company of all the 
creatures, to assist and join in concert with us in 
celebrating the worthy deeds, and magnifying the 
glorious name of our most mighty Creator, of our 
most bountiful Benefactor. — J Barrow. 



EVENING OFTEN PLEASANTER THAN MORNING. 

Oftentimes we look forward with forebodings to 
the time of old age, forgetful that at eventide it 
shall be light. To many saints, old age is the 
choicest season of their lives. A balmier air fans 
the mariner's cheek as he nears the shores of im- 
mortality, fewer waves ruffle his sea, quiet reigns 
— deep, still, and solemn. From the altar of age 
the flashes of the fire of youth are gone, but the 
more real flame of earnest feeling remains. The 
pilgrims have reached the land Beulah, that happy 
country whose days are as the days of heaven upon 
earth. Angels visit it, celestial gales blow over it, 

flowers of Paradise grow in it, and the air is filled 

E 



58 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

with seraphic music. Some dwell here for years, 
and others come to it but a few hours before their 
departure, but it is an Eden upon earth. We may 
well long for the time when we shall recline in its 
shady groves, and be satisfied with hope until the 
time of fruition comes. The setting sun seems 
larger than when aloft in the sky, and a splendor 
of glory tinges all the clouds which surround his 
going down. Pain breaks not the calm of the sweet 
twilight of age, for strength made perfect in weak- 
ness bears up with patience under it all. Ripe fruits 
of choice experience are gathered as the rare repast 
of life's evening, and the soul prepares itself for rest. 
The Lord's people shall also enjoy light in the hour 
of death. Unbelief laments ; the shadows fall, the 
night is coming, existence is ending. Ah ! no, cries 
faith, the night is far spent, the true day is at hand. 
Light is come — the light of immortality, the light 
of a Father's countenance. Gather up thy feet in 
the bed ; see the waiting band of spirits ! Angels 
waft thee away. Farewell, beloved one ; thou art 
gone ; thou wavest thine hand. Ah ! now it is light. 
The pearly gates are open, the golden streets shine 
in the jasper light. We cover our eyes, but thou 
beholdest the unseen. Adieu, brother ; thou hast 
light at eventide, such as we have not yet. — Charles 
Spurgeon. 







<?' 



'y^c^x/ 



rather; 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 59 



TAKING REST. 

And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them^ 
Sleep on now, and take your rest : it is enough, the hour is 
come ; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands 
of sinners. Rise up, let us go ; lo, he that betray eth me is 
at hand. — Mark xiv., 41, 42. 

Now, the broad general lesson which we gain 
from this is not hard to read. It is that a Christian 
is to be forever rousing himself to recognize the 
duties which lie before him now. In Christ the 
motto is ever this : " Let us be going." Let me 
speak to the conscience of some one. Perhaps 
yours is a very remorseful past — a foolish, frivolous, 
disgraceful, frittered past. Well, Christ says, " My 
servant, be sad, but no languor ; there is work to be 
done for me yet. Rise up ! be going !" Oh, my 
brethren, Christ takes your wretched remnants of 
life, the feeble pulses of a heart which has spent its 
best hours, not for him, but for self and for enjoy- 
ment, and, in his strange love, he condescends to 
accept them. 

Wake to the opportunities that yet remain. Ten 
years of life — five years — one year — say you have 
only that. Will you sleep that away because you 
have already slept too long ? Eternity is crying 



60 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

out to you louder and louder as you near its brink, 
" Arise ! be going." Count your resources ; learn 
what you are not fit for, and give up wishing 
for it ; learn what you can do, and do it with the 
energy of a man. That is the great lesson of this 
passage. 

Christ impressed two things on his apostles' 
minds : 1. The duty of Christian earnestness — 
" Rise !" 2. The duty of Christian energy — " Let 
us be going." 

Christ roused them to earnestness when he said 
" Rise !" A short, sharp, rousing call. They were 
to start up and wake to the realities of their posi- 
tion. The guards were on them ; their Master was 
about to be led away to doom. That was an awak- 
ening which would make men spring to their feet in 
earnest. Brethren, goodness and earnestness are 
nearly the same thing. In the language in which 
the Bible was written there was one word which 
expressed them both ; what we translate a good 
man, in Greek is literally " earnest." The Greeks 
felt that to be earnest was nearly identical with be- 
ing good. But, however, there is a day in life when 
a man must be earnest, but it does not follow that 
he will be good. " Behold, the Bridegroom cometh ; 
go ye out to meet him." That is a sound that will 
thunder through the most fast-locked slumber, and 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 61 

rouse men whom sermons can not rouse. But that 
will not make them holy. Earnestness of life, 
brethren, that is goodness. Wake in death you 
must, for it is an earnest thing to die. Shall it be 
this, I pray you ? Shall it be the voice of death 
which first says " Arise !" at the very moment when 
it says " Sleep on forever ?" Shall it be the bridal 
train sweeping by, and the shutting of the doors, 
and the discovery that the lamp is gone out ? Shall 
that be the first time you know that it is an earnest 
thing to live ? Let us feel that we have been doing ; 
learn what time is — sliding from you, and not stop- 
ping when you stop ; learn what sin is ; learn what 
"never" is. Awake, thou that sleepest. — F. W. 
Robertson. 



GOD OUR PORTION. 

As the scattered rays of light are all included in 
the focus, as the fountain contains the streams, as 
the object reflected is prior to and nobler than the 
different reflections of it, so all finite and created 
good is contained in him who is the supreme good ; 
all earthly excellence is but the partial emanation, the 
more or less bright reflection of the Great Original 
To have a portion, therefore, in God, is to possess 



62 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME 

that which includes in itself all created good. The 
man who is in possession of some great master- 
piece in painting or sculpture need not envy others 
who have only casts or copies of it. The original 
plate or stereotype is more valuable than any im- 
pressions or engravings thrown off from it ; and he 
who owns the former, owns that which includes, is 
capable of producing all the latter. Surveying the 
wonders of creation, or even with the Word of in- 
spiration in his hand, the Christian can say, " Glori- 
ous though these things be, to me belongs that which 
is more glorious far. The streams are precious, 
but I have a Fountain ; the vesture is beautiful, but 
the Weaver is mine ; the portrait in its every linea- 
ment is lovely, but that Great Original, whose beau- 
ty it but feebly depicts, is mine — my own. God is 
my portion, the Lord is mine inheritance. To me 
belongs all actual and all possible good, all created 
and uncreated beauty, all that eye hath seen or 
imagination conceived ; and more than that, for eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered 
into the heart of man to conceive what God hath 
prepared for them that love him. All things and 
beings, all that life reveals or death conceals, ev- 
ery thing within the boundless possibilities of cre- 
ating wisdom and power, is mine, for God, the Cre- 
ator and Fountain of all, is mine." — John Caird. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 63 



LIVING BY FAITH. 

My faith looks up to Thee, 
Thou Lamb of Calvary, 

Savior divine ! 
Now hear me while I pray ; 
Take all my guilt away; 
let me from this day 

Be wholly Thine ! 

May Thy rich grace impart 
Strength to my fainting heart, 

My zeal inspire! 
As Thou hast died for me, 
O may my love to Thee 
Pure, warm, and changeless be, 

A living fire ! 

While life's dark maze I tread, 
And griefs around me spread, 

Be Thou my Guide ! 
Bid darkness turn to day, 
Wipe sorrow's tear away, 
Nor let me ever stray 

From Thee aside. 

When ends life's transient dream. 
When death's cold sullen stream 



64 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Shall o'er me roll; 
Bless' cl Savior ! then in love 
Fear and distrust remove; 
O bear me safe above, 

A ransomed soul. — Kay Palmee. 



THE BITTER WITH THE SWEET. 

There was once a slave called iEsop 

A courtier, to whom the king had praised iEsop 
for his obedience, answered, " Well may he love 
thee, for thou loadest him with all he can desire ; 
but try him with some painful thing, and then thou 
wilt see what his love is worth." Now in the 
king's garden there grew a nauseous lemon, the 
stench of which was such that few r could bear to 
approach it. The king told iEsop to go and cut 
one of the lemons, and eat every bit of it. JEsop 
accordingly cut the fruit, the largest he could find, 
and ate it every bit. The wily courtier said to 
him, " How can you bear to swallow such a nau- 
seous fruit ?" He answered, " My dear master has 
done nothing but load me with benefits every day 
of my life, and shall I not, for his sake, eat one 
bitter fruit without complaint, or asking the reason 
why ?" — Anon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 65 



MOTIVES TO PATIENCE. 

Let us consider the motives that should persuade 
us to be patient as Christians. Far as patience 
includes meekness under wrongs of our fellow-men, 
we must forgive, or we may not hope ourselves be- 
fore God to be forgiven. Christ laid the axe where 
no earthly reformer would have dared to place it, 
at the root of revengefulness. The Christian law 
of morals gropes in the heart of every petitioner oft 
as he prays, and it bids him pray without ceasing. 
We are warned again that in yielding to impatience 
and anger we cease to possess our own souls ; and, 
as is darkly intimated, Satan takes hold of the de- 
serted rudder and wields the ungoverned helm, and 
drives before him the infuriated and imbruted man. 
Cain, had he but curbed his impatient envy, need 
not have bequeathed his name and warning to all 
times as the first murderer and fratricide ; and 
Christ told us that he who hates his brother in his 
heart is already, in the germ and essence, a mur- 
derer; the first act of Cain's sin is begun within 

HIM. 

Far, again, as patience includes submission to the 
divine appointments, let us remark that our trials 
are lessened by serene meekness and resignation. 



66 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

God lightens and removes them more early, and 
they do not so deeply wound and empoison the 
soul. But he who frets and fights against God, in 
the language of ancient prophecy, like a bullock 
unaccustomed to the yoke, drives the deeper into 
his own flesh the goad against which he vainly 
kicks. 

We are to remember, too, the necessity of this 
grace to success and influence with our fellow-men. 
It is the patient perseverance in well-doing that 
builds up consistency, and influence, and weight of 
character. We are, again, all to remember our own 
unworthiness before God, and our liability to pay 
ten thousand talents, for which infinite and endless 
torments would be no sufficient amends, ere, in our 
fretfulness, we chide man harshly, or murmur bit- 
terly against our God and his providence. Nor is 
it unfitting that we remember how much of mercy 
and kindness there is in God's allotments ; and how, 
by the general presence of affliction, God has pro- 
vided in every sphere, the most obscure and se- 
cluded even, a scene where he may be glorified, 
and where the power of his religion and grace may 
be illustrated ; and how, out of such trials meekly 
borne, he weaves the confessor's wreath and the 
martyr's crown, and makes the blood of his slain 
servants the seed of his Church, whilst the wrath 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 67 

of man is forced to praise him, and the remainder 
of wrath is restrained. 

Are we tempted to impatience and anger with 
some erring and injurious fellow-mortal ? Let us 
test the old Puritan dilemma in such a case. The 
offender is a Christian or a child of hell. If already, 
or yet to become the first, we shall in heaven not 
remember with pleasure revengeful and retaliatory 
wrongs against one of our brethren and of Christ's 
people. If an enemy of God and an heir of his 
wrath, he is soon to endure more than man can in- 
flict, and the bar to which he is rushing is one at 
which strict justice and unforgetting memory pre- 
side. Let us dread snatching into our hands the 
sceptre of him who has said "Vengeance is mine" 
and then pronouncing rash and .false judgment, root- 
ing up the wheat with the tares, and making sad 
the heart of the righteous, whom God has not made 
sad. The question of the Judge of all the earth to 
the over-fretted patriarch has much of dread signifi- 
cance : " Wilt thou also disannul my judgment ? 
Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be right- 
eous ?" (Job xl., 8). Much of our impatience is a 
virtual disannulling of God's decisions, and a dis- 
tinct intimation that his forbearance is wanting in 
righteousness. — William R. Williams. 



68 LIGHT AT E VENING TIME. 

GOD THE ONLY DEPENDENCE OF THE SOUL. 

You are tried alone ; alone you pass into the 
desert; alone you must bear and conquer in the 
agony ; alone you must be sifted by the world ; 
there are moments known only to a man's own self, 
when he sits by the poisoned springs of existence, 
"yearning for a morrow which shall free him from 
the strife." .... Let life be a life of faith ; do not go 
timorously about, inquiring what others think, what 

others believe, and what others say God is 

near you. Throw yourself fearlessly upon him. 
Trembling mortal, there is an unknown might with- 
in your soul which will wake when you command 
it. ... . Every son of man who would attain the 
true end of his being must be baptized with fire. — 
F. W. Robertson. 



" YE SHALL BEAT IF YE FAINT NOT." 
In every trial of every kind, for every one of us, 
is it not the same ? The answer may come sooner 
or later; the well of joy for which the heart yearns 
may be opened early in the pilgrimage or not till 
near the mountain top. But surely, unfailingly, we 
are drawing near the answer to all our prayers. — 
Anon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 69 

GLORY OF THE CROSS. 
The Cross of Christ is an object of such incom- 
parable brightness that it spreads a glory round it 
to all the nations of the earth, all the corners of the 
universe, all the generations of time, and all the 
ages of eternity. The greatest actions or events 
that ever happened on earth filled with their splen- 
dor and influence but a moment of time and a point 
of space; the splendor of this great object fills im- 
mensity and eternity. If we take a right view of 
its glory, we shall see it contemplated with attention, 
spreading influence, and attracting looks from times 
past, present, and to come ; heaven, earth, and hell, 
angels, saints, devils. We shall see it to be both 
the object of the deepest admiration of the creatures 
and the perfect approbation of the infinite Creator ; 
we shall see the best part of mankind, the Church 
of God, for four thousand years looking forward to 
it before it happened ; new generations yet unborn 
rising up to admire and honor it in continual suc- 
cession, till time shall be no more ; innumerable 
multitudes of angels and saints looking back to it 
with holy transports to the remotest ages of eternity. 
Other glories decay by length of time; if the splen- 
dor of this object change, it will be only by increas- 
ing. The visible sun will spend his beams in process 



70 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

of time, and, as it were, grow dim with age ; this 
object hath a rich stock of beams, which eternity 
can not exhaust. If saints and angels grow in 
knowledge, the splendor of this object will be in- 
creasing ; 'tis unbelief that intercepts its beams ; 
unbelief takes place only on earth; there is no such 
thing in heaven or in hell. It will be a great part 
of future blessedness to remember the object that 
purchased it, and of future punishment to remember 
the object that offered deliverance from it ; it will 
add to the beams of love in heaven, and make the 
flames of hell burn more fiercely ; its beams will not 
only adorn the regions of light, but pierce the re- 
gions of darkness ; it will be the desire of the saints 
in light, and the great eyesore of the prince of dark- 
ness and his subjects. — J. Maclaurin. 



A HUMBLE HOME. 

Are you not surprised to find how independent of 
money peace of conscience is, and how much hap- 
piness can be condensed into the humblest home ? 
A cottage will not hold the bulky furniture and 
sumptuous accommodations of a mansion ; but, if 
God be there, a cottage will hold as much happiness 
as might stock a palace. — James Hamilton. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 71 



TAKING UP THE CROSS. 

Jesus, I ray cross have taken, 

All to leave and follow Thee ; 
Destitute, despised, forsaken, 

Thou from hence my all shalt be : 
Perish every fond ambition, 

All I've sought, or hoped, or known ; 
Yet how rich is my condition ! 

God and heaven are still my own ! 

Let the world despise and leave me. 

They have left my Savior too ; 
Human hearts and looks deceive me ; 

Thou art not, like them, untrue ; 
And, whilst Thou shalt smile upon me 

God of wisdom, love, and might, 
Foes may hate, and friends may shun me; 

Show Thy face, and all is bright ! 

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure ! 

Come disaster, scorn, and pain ! 
In Thy service pain is pleasure, 

With Thy favor loss is gain ! 
I have called Thee Abba, Father ! 

I have stayed my heart on Thee ! 
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, 

All must work for good to me. 



72 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Man may trouble and distress me, 

'Twill but drive me to Thy breast ; 
Life with trials hard may press me, 

Heaven will bring me sweeter rest ; 
0, 'tis not in grief to harm me, 

While Thy love is left to me ! 
0, 'twere not in joy to charm me, 

Were that joy unmixed with Thee ! 

Take, my soul, thy full salvation ; 

Kise o'er sin, and fear, and care ; 
Joy to find, in every station, 

Something still to do or bear : 
Think what Spirit dwells within thee ! 

What a Father's smile is thine ! 
What a Savior died to win thee ! 

Child of heaven, shouldst thou repine ? 

Haste then on from grace to glory, 

Armed by faith, and winged by prayer ; 
Heaven's eternal day's before thee, 

God's own hand shall guide thee there ! 
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, 

Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days; 
Hope soon change to glad fruition, 

Faith to sight, and prayer to praise ! 

Henry Francis Lyte. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 73 



UPHELD BY THE DIVINE HAND. 

The almighty Architect stretches out the north, 
and its whole starry train, over the empty space ; 
he hangs the earth and all the ethereal globes upon 
nothing, yet are their foundations laid so sure that 
they can never be moved at any time. 

No unfit representation to the sincere Christian 
of his final perseverance ; but such as points out 
the cause that effects it, and constitutes the pledge 
which ascertains it. His nature is all enfeebled ; 
he is not able of himself to think a good thought ; 
he has no visible safeguard, nor any sufficiency of 
his own, and yet whole legions of formidable ene- 
mies are combined to compass his ruin. The world 
lays unnumbered snares for his feet ; the devil is 
incessantly urging the siege by a multitude of fiery 
darts or wily temptations ; the flesh, like a perfidious 
inmate, under color of friendship and a specious 
pretense of pleasure, is always forward to betray his 
integrity ; but, amid all these threatening circum- 
stances of personal weakness and imminent danger, 
an invisible aid is his defense. 

"I will uphold thee," says the blessed God, "with 

the right hand of my righteousness." Oh, comfort- 

F 



74 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

able truth ! The arm which fixes the stars in their 
courses, and guides the planets in theirs, is stretched 
out to preserve the heirs of salvation. 

" My sheep are mine ; and they shall never per- 
ish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand" 
(John x., 27, 28). What words are these ! And 
did they come from him who hath all power in 
heaven and earth ? And were they spoken to ev- 
ery unfeigned though feeble follower of the great 
Shepherd ? Then Omnipotence itself must be van- 
quished before they can be destroyed, either by the 
seductions of frauds or the assaults of violence. 

If you ask, therefore, "What security we have of 
enduring to the end, and continuing faithful unto 
death ?" The very same that established the heav- 
ens, and settles the ordinances of the universe. Can 
these be thrown into confusion ? Then may the 
true believer draw back unto perdition. Can the 
sun be dislodged from his sphere, and rush lawless- 
ly through the sky ? Then, and then only, can the 
faith of God's elect be overthrown finally. Be of 
good courage, then. O my soul, rely on those di- 
vine succors which are so solemnly stipulated, so 
faithfully promised. Though thy grace be languid 
as the glimmering spark, though the overflowings 
of corruption threaten it with total extinction, yet, 
since the great Jehovah has undertaken to cherish 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 75 

the dim principle, many waters can not quench it, 
nor the floods drown it. Nay, though it were feeble 
as the smoking flax, Almighty goodness stands en- 
gaged to augment the heat, to raise the fire, and 
feed the flame, till it beam forth a lamp of immortal 
glory in the heavens. — James Hervey. 



ENDURING UNTO THE END. 

The philosopher being asked, in his old age, why 
he did not give over his practice and take his ease, 
answered, " When a man is to run a race of forty 
furlongs, would you have him sit down at the nine 
and thirtieth, and so lose the prize ?" We do not 
keep a good fire all day, and let it go out in the 
evening, when it is coldest, but then rather lay on 
more fuel, that we may go warm to bed. Thus he 
that slakes the heat of zeal in his age will go cold 
to bed, and in a worse case to his grave. To con- 
tinue in giving glory to Christ is no less requisite 
than to begin ; though the beginning be more than 
half, yet the end is more than all. The God of all 
perfection looks that our ultimum vit^e should be 
his optimum glorle ; that our last works should 
be our best works ; that we should persevere in 
goodness to the end. — Spencer. 



76 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

ALL FROM CHRIST. 

If ever thou look for sound comfort on earth and 
salvation in heaven, unglue thyself from the world 
and the vanities of it ; put thyself upon thy Lord 
and Savior Jesus Christ ; leave not till thou findest 
thyself firmly united to him, so as thou art become 
a limb of that Body whereof he is head, a spouse 
of that husband, a branch of that stem, a stone laid 
upon that foundation. Look not, therefore, for any 
blessing out of him ; and in, and by, and from him 
look for all blessings. Let him be thy life, and wish 
not to live longer than thou art quickened by him. 
Find him thy wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, 
redemption ; thy riches, thy strength, thy glory. 
Apply unto thyself all that thy Savior is or hath 
done. Wouldst thou have the graces of God's 
Spirit ? fetch them from his anointing. Wouldst 
thou have power against spiritual enemies ? fetch it 
from his sovereignty. Wouldst thou have redemp- 
tion ? fetch it from his passion. Wouldst thou have 
absolution ? fetch it from his perfect innocence ; 
freedom from the curse ? fetch it from his cross ; 
satisfaction ? fetch it from his sacrifice ; cleansing 
from sin ? fetch it from his blood ; mortification ? 
fetch it from his grave; newness of life? fetch it 
from his resurrection ; right to heaven ? fetch it from 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 77 

his purchase ; audience to all thy suits ? fetch it from 
his intercession. Wouldst thou have salvation ? 
fetch it from his session at the right hand of Majes- 
ty. Wouldst thou have all ? fetch it from him who 
is one Lord, one God, and Father of all ; who is 
above all, through all, and in all." — Joseph Hall. 



MAGNETISM OF FAITH. 
I have observed at sea, and it is often noticed by 
mariners, that in the beginning of bad weather, be- 
fore the storm was fairly set in and fixed in its 
course, the needle in the compass-box was consid- 
erably affected, and there was unusual oscillation, 
probably through the changing or disturbance of 
the atmosphere's electric forces. But, after the gale 
was fairly formed or at its height, the needle became 
true to its polarity. In like manner is it with a mind 
under trial that has been once thoroughly magnet- 
ized by the grace of God, so as to have the law of 
divine polarity impressed upon it, making it to turn 
always to the Pole-star of Bethlehem, the great 
magnet of the regenerated soul. Though ordinari- 
ly true to his pole, it is seldom or never that the 
Christian can at once repress the flutter and agita- 
tion of nature, control or understand its deviations, 



78 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

collect his energies, and repose calmly on God. It 
is seldom that faith, taken by surprise, does at once 
steady the soul, and lift a man clear above hostile 
infirmities and fears. Although it be true that, when 
once magnetized by the love of God, the soul does 
always point upward by strong attraction, as the 
compass-needle, to the north, yet, like that same 
needle, suddenly acted upon by a disturbing force, 
you must give it time to recover its balance, and, its 
oscillations done, to fasten upon the central point 
of rest. 

We have known God's dear children sometimes, 
when calamities came suddenly in prospect, when 
huge billows seemed ready to go over them, and a 
black cloud of sorrows was about to burst upon 
their heads, at first trembling and anxious, swinging 
a little with trepidation to this side and that of the 
central point of rest; but, as the trial became more 
distinctly defined, the cloud's lightning began to flash, 
and its big drops to fall, the palpitating heart would 
be still, the vibrations of the will would cease, faith 
gather strength, and the eye of the soul be upturned 
and fastened on a faithful God, and its hand grasp 
firmly the promises which neither death, nor life, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to 
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
can even loosen. — H. T. Cheever. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 79 

FIDELITY TO THE FAITH. 

St. Paul "kept the faith" at Antioch even when 
the infuriated crowd attempted to drown his voice 
with their clamors, and "interrupted him, contradict- 
ing and blaspheming." He "kept the faith" at Ico- 
nium, when the "envious Jews stirred up the people 
to stone him." He "kept the faith" at Lystra, when 
the fate of Stephen became almost his, and he was 
dragged, wounded and bleeding, outside the ram- 
parts of the town, and left there to languish, and, 
for aught they cared, to die. He "kept the faith" 
against his erring brother Peter, and "withstood 
him to the face, because he was to be blamed." He 
"kept the faith" when shamefully treated at Philippi, 
and made the dungeon echo back the praises of his 
God. He "kept the faith" at Thessalonica, when 
" lewd fellows of the baser sort accused him falsely 
of sedition." He "kept the faith" at Athens, when 
to the world's sages he preached of him whom they 
ignorantly worshiped as " the Unknown God." He 
"kept the faith" at Corinth, when compelled to aban- 
don that hardened and obdurate city, and to shake 
off the dust from his garment as a testimony against 
it. He " kept the faith" at Ephesus, when he pointed 
his hearers, not to Diana, but to Jesus Christ as 
their only Savior He "kept the faith" at Jerusa- 



80 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 

lem, when stoned by the enraged and agitated mob, 
when stretched upon the torturing rack, when bound 
with iron fetters. He "kept the faith" in Ceesarea, 
before the trembling, conscience - stricken Felix, 
when he " reasoned of righteousness, temperance, 
and judgment to come." He "kept the faith" before 
Agrippa, and by his earnestness compelled the king 
to say, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Chris- 
tian." And even in the closing hours of life, when 
the last storm was gathering over his head, when 
lying in the dark and dismal Roman cell, he wrote 
these triumphant words: "I am now ready to be 
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is 
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that 
day." — J. R. Macduff. 



BUILD ON THE ROCK. 
Build your nest upon no tree here, for you see 
God hath sold the forest to Death ; and every tree 
whereupon we would rest is ready to be cut down, 
to the end we may flee, and mount up, and build 
upon the Rock. — Samuel Rutherford. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 81 



CLOUD OF MERCY. 
How vast the range of blessing your prayers 
may take ! Who can tell the history or trace the 
wanderings of yon cloud, that sails in light and 
glory across the sky, or indicate from what source 
its bosom was filled with vapors it is to shed back 
upon the earth ? Perhaps, though now wandering 
over the tilled field and the peopled village, its stores 
were drawn from some shaded fountain in the deep 
forest, where the eye of man has scarce even pen- 
etrated. In silent obscurity that fountain yielded 
its pittance, and did its work of preparing to bless 
the far-off lands that shall yet be glad for it. And 
even thus it is with the descending Spirit. Little 
do we know often of the secret origin of the dews 
of blessings that descend on the churches of God. 
In the recesses of some lowly cottage, in the depths 
of some humble heart, may be going on the work 
of pious intercession, in answer to which the grace 
of heaven descends on us and our children, on the 
labors of the wondering and joyful pastor, and on 
the hearts of the far heathen, until the wilderness 
and the solitary place are glad for them. — W. R. 
Williams. 



82 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 



THE ADVENT. 

Joy to the world ! the Lord is come : 

Let earth receive her King; 
Let every heart prepare Him room, 

And heaven and nature sing. 

Joy to the earth ! the Savior reigns ; 

Let men their songs employ ; 
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, 

Repeat the sounding joy. 

No more let sins and sorrows grow, 

Nor thorns infest the ground : 
He comes to make his blessings flow 

Far as the curse is found. 

He rules the world with truth and grace, 

And makes the nations prove 
The glories of His righteousness, 

And wonders of His love. — Isaac Watts. 



LIFE OF FAITH. 

Have you ever thought of the life of a child ? 
Why, the life of a child is a perfect life of faith. 
That little child — what can that little child do? 
Why, that little child can not find its way to the 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 83 

street end and back again. It would be lost if you 
trusted it alone. That little child could not find the 
next meal. If you left that little child it would die 
of want. That little child could not furnish a shelter 
for its own head to-night, and yet has that little child 
any fear about it ? Has that little child any sort of 
alarm about it ? Not at all ! How comes it that 
the child's life is the happy life it is ? Because, in- 
stinctively and beautifully, it is a life of faith. That 
child could not buy the next loa£ but it has a firm 
belief that "father" can. That child could not pro- 
vide for itself the garments for to-morrow, but it has 
an unbounded belief in "father's" power to do it, 
and "mother's" power to do it. That child could 
not do it for itself one day, but it never costs that 
child a moment's concern. Its life is a life of per- 
fect faith in its parents. — S. Coley. 



CHRIST A FO UNTAIN. 

"If any man thirst, let him come unto me and 
drink." What man would dare to say of merely 
physical things, " If any man lacks knowledge, let 
him come to me ?" Neither Humboldt, nor Liebig, 
nor Agassiz would dare to say this even of the de- 
partments in which they are pre-eminent, how much 



84 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

less of the whole range of learning ! Yet Christ, 
disdaining physical things, appeals at once to the 
soul, with all its yearnings, its depths of despair, its 
clas pings — like a mother feeling at midnight for the 
child whom death has taken — its infinite outreach- 
ings, its longings for love, and peace, and joy, which 
nothing can satisfy this side of the bosom of God, 
and says, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto me 
and drink." He stands over against whatever want 
there is in the human bosom, whatever hunger there 
is in the moral faculties, whatever need there is in 
the imagination, and says, " He that cometh unto 
me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me 
shall never thirst." — H. W. Beecher. 



GOD A FRIEND. 

A heathen sage said to one of his friends, " Do 
not complain of thy misfortunes as long as Caesar is 
thy friend !" What shall we say to those whom the 
Prince of the kings of the earth calls his sons and 
his brethren ? "I will never leave thee nor forsake 
thee !" Ought not these words to cast all fear and 
care forever to the ground ? He who possesses 
him, to whom all things belong, possesses all things. 
— F. W. Krummacher. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 85 



CHRIST IN THE CHRISTIAN. 

This communion is the motive and source, the 
secret and the reward, the talisman and the glory 
of our life toward God. Come, then, Lord Jesus, 
into our souls, and possess them, and pervade them 
with thyself! We would feel that Christ liveth in 
us beyond the contingency of removal. You know 
that Phidias so wrought his own name into the 
shield of the statue of Minerva that it could not 
be removed without destroying his masterpiece. 
Christ in his children engraves not merely his name, 
but as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, he inter- 
penetrates their hearts, and dwells there in such 
essential, vital presence that his dislodgment would 
destroy the life and beauty of his people, and leave 
them withered and loathsome members in their 
wasting and decay. Here, then, is the source and 
guaranty of our life toward God : the constant in- 
dwelling of Jesus, who is the incarnation, not of the 
nature alone, but of the truth of God. 

This is what gave Peter his consuming zeal at 
Pentecost; Paul his rapture, when whether in the 
body or out of the body he could not tell ; and John 
his divine illumination to see that multitude which 
no man could number ; martyrs their calmness and 



86 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

courage amid the crackling of fagots and the curl- 
ing of flames ; missionaries their hope and trust 
amid the death-damps of the Bassas and the hor- 
rors of Oung-pen-la ; Christians love, and longing 
to toil and suffer for Jesus, and grace and joy to die 
in his service like Paul, with the triumph leaping 
from his quivering lips, "I have fought a good fight, 
I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- 
eousness," taken up eighteen centuries after by 
Payson on his dying-bed, " The battle's fought ! the 
battle's fought ! The victory is won ! The victory 
is won forever !" O brethren, brethren, there is no 
God-ward living, no living in the Church, no spir- 
itual, no evangelical living, no God-approved work- 
ing, no brave and no glorious dying without com- 
munion with God, through an indwelling Christ as 
the divine embodiment of all spiritual truth, and as 
the divine source and authority of all spiritual life. 
May we feel the uplifting of this divine force in us. 
By the mystery of the new birth may we all be 
yielded up again to this inspiration of God, lost by 
our sinning, but recovered by our believing, and 
continued by our receiving and appropriating the 
truth of God through unceasing faith in his Son 
Jesus Christ. — A. H. Burlingham. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 87 



IGNORANCE OF THE FUTURE. 
None, indeed, can open the " seven-sealed book," 
or look forward over the dim and shadowy field 
stretching out inimitably before him. The astron- 
omer discourses on the rate at which a sunbeam 
travels, and explains how the flashing lightning 
may be dispersed and its terrible swoop evaded. 
He even indicates those spheres where storms nev- 
er gather and thunders never roll ; but he can not 
solve the anxious problem of our future, nor help 
us by his great wisdom to avoid its manifold evils, 
because they come unforewarned. Nor will the 
lives of those gone before avail us, seeing no lives 
are marked by the same vicissitudes, or checkered 
by the same light and shades, the same joy and 
sorrow. In the eloquent words of a foreign divine, 
"We can become familiar with a landscape, we 
know where to find the waterfall, and the shady 
ledge where the violets grow in spring, and the 
sassafras gives forth its odors, but we can never 
become familiar with our life-landscape ; we can 
never tell where we shall come upon the shady dell, 
or where the fountains will gush and the birds sing. 
That is with God." And his name be praised that 
it is so ; for a definite prescience thereof would, in 



88 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 

most instances, cloud the whole course of life, poison 
every stream of enjoyment, and render existence a 
curse of no ordinary magnitude. — Edwin Davies. 



FIDELITY IN PERSECUTION. 

True men are calm and faithful in the greatest 
trials and before the fiercest foes. Josephus re- 
cords a case in point, the speech of Eleazar before 
the tyrant Antiochus. Said the intrepid martyr : 
"Old age has not so impaired my mind or enfeebled 
my body but, when religion and duty call upon me, 
I feel a youthful and vigorous soul. Does this dec- 
laration awaken your resentment ? Prepare your 
instruments of torture, provoke the flames of the 
furnace to a fiercer rage ; nothing shall induce me 
to save these silver locks by a violation of the ordi- 
nances of my country and of my God. Thou holy 
lav/ ! from whom I derive my knowledge, I will 
never desert so excellent a master. Thou prime 
virtue, temperance ! I will never abjure thee. Au- 
gust and sacred priesthood ! I will never disgrace 
thee. I will bear it to my ancestors a pure and un- 
sullied soul, as free from stain as I stand in this 
place devoid of fear, amid the parade of your threat- 
ening engines and implements of martyrdom." — 
E. L. Magoon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 89 



SIMPLICITY OF FAITH. 

All men are born with faith. Faith is as natural 
to a man as grief, or love, or anger. One of the 
earliest flowers that spring up in the soul, it smiles 
on a mother from her infant's cradle ; and, living on 
through the rudest storms, it never dies till the hour 
of death. On the face of a child which has been left 
for a little time with strangers, and may be caressed 
with their kisses, and courted with their smiles, and 
fondled, and dandled in their arms, I have seen a 
cloud gathering and growing darker, till at length 
it burst in cries of terrors and showers of tears. 
The mother returns ; and when the babe holds out 
its little arms to her, I see in these arms the arms 
of faith ; and when, like a believer restored to the 
bosom of his God, it is nestling in a mother's em- 
brace, and the cloud passes from its brow, and its 
tears are changed into smiles, and its terror into 
calm serenity, we behold the principle of faith in 
play. 

This is one of its earliest, and — so far as nature 
is concerned — one of its most beautiful develop- 
ments. So natural is it for us to confide, and trust, 
and believe, that a child believes whatpver it is told 
until experience shakes its confidence in human 



90 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

veracity. Its eye is caught by the beauty of some 
flower, or it gazes up with wonder on the starry 
heavens ; with that inquisitiveness which in child- 
hood, active as a bee, is ever on the wing, it is curi- 
ous to know who made them, and would believe 
you if you said you made them yourself. Such is 
the faith which nature gives it in a father that it 
never doubts his word. It believes all he says, and 
is content to believe where it is not able to compre- 
hend. For this, as well as other reasons, our Savior 
presented in a child the living model of a Christian. 
He left Abraham, the father of the faithful, to his 
repose in heaven; he left Samuel undisturbed to 
enjoy the quiet rest of his grave ; he allowed Moses 
and Elias, after their brief visit, to return to the 
skies, and wing their way back to glory. For a 
pattern of faith, he took a boy from his mother's 
side, and setting him up, in his gentle, blushing, 
shrinking modesty, before the great assembly, he 
said, " Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom 
of God as a little child, shall not enter therein." — 
Thomas Guthrie. 



You will excuse me if I ask you to look out for 
the sunlight the Lord sends into your days.-— Hope 
Campbell. 



LIGHT AT EVEN ma TIME. 91 

THE SYMPATHY OF JESUS. 

It is in this entire and perfect sympathy with all 
humanity that the heart of Jesus differs from every 
other heart that is found among the sons of men. 
And it is this, oh ! it is this which is the chief bless- 
edness of having such a Savior. If you are poor, 
you can only get a miserable sympathy from the 
rich ; with the best intentions, they can not under- 
stand you. Their sympathy is awkward. If you 
are in pain, it is only a factitious and constrained 
sympathy you get from those in health — feelings 
forced, adopted kindly, but imperfect still. They sit, 
when the regular condolence is done, beside you, 
conversing on topics with each other that jar upon 
your ear. 

They sympathize ? Miserable comforters are 
they all. If you are miserable, and tell out your 
grief, you have the shame of feeling that you were 
not understood, that you have bared your inner self 
to a rude gaze. If you are in doubt, you can not 
tell your doubts to religious people ; no, not even to 
the ministers of Christ, for they have no place for 
doubts in their largest system. They ask, " What 
right have you to doubt ?" They suspect your 
character. They shake the head, and whisper it 
about gravely that you read strange books — that you 



92 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

are verging on infidelity. If you are depressed with 
guilt, to whom shall you tell out your tale of shame ? 
The confessional, with its innumerable evils, and yet 
indisputably soothing power, is passed away ; but 
there is nothing to supply its place. You can not 
speak to your brother man, for you injure him by 
doing so, or else weaken yourself You can not 
tell it to society, for society judges in the gross by 
general rules, and can not take into account the del- 
icate differences of transgression. It banishes the 
frail penitent, and does homage to the daring, hard 
transgressor. Then it is that, repulsed on all sides 
and lonely, we turn to him whose mighty heart un- 
derstands and feels all. " Lord, to whom shall we 
go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life." — F. W. 
Robertson. 



LOOK UP. 

Hast thou no dwelling of thy own, no posses- 
sion, and little for present supply ? 

Look up to him that passed through here in that 
very same way, and cleave the closer to him ; so 
much the more eye him as thy riches and portion, 
and thou needest not envy kings in their best days ; 
and whatsoever be thy estate, how soon shall it be 
past. — Robert Leighton. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 93 



SIGHT OF JESUS. 
To see Jesus clearly with an eye of faith is to 
see the deep opening a way from Egypt to free- 
dom's shore; is to see the waters gush full and 
sparkling from the desert rock; is to see the ser- 
pent gleaming on its pole over a dying camp ; is to 
see the life-boat coming when our bark is thumping 
on the bank or ground on rocks by foaming break- 
ers ; it is to see a pardon when the noose is round 
our neck and our foot is on the drop. No sight in 
the wide world like Jesus Christ, with forgiveness 
on his lips, and a crown in his blessed hand ! This 
is worth laboring for, praying for, living for, suffer- 
ing for, dying for. You remember how the proph- 
et's servant climbed the steps of Carmel. Three 
years, and never cloud had dappled the burning 
sky; three long years, and never a dew-drop had 
glistened on the grass or wet the lips of a dying 
flower ; but the cloud came at last. No bigger 
than a man's hand it rose from the sea ; it spread ; 
and as he saw the first lightning's flash and heard 
the first thunder's roll, how did he forget all his 
toils, and would have climbed the hill, not seven, 
but seventy times seven times, to hail that welcome 
sight ! 



94 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

It is so with sinners so soon as their eyes are 
gladdened with a believing sight of Christ ; when 
they have got Christ, and with him peace. — Thomas 
Guthrie. 



THE WELSH PEASANT. 

It is told of a poor peasant on the Welsh mount- 
ains that, month after month, year after year, through 
a long period of declining life, he was used every 
morning, as soon as he awoke, to open his case- 
ment window toward the east, and look out to see 
if Jesus Christ was coming. He was no calcu- 
lator, or he need not look so long ; he was a student 
of prophecy, or he would not have looked at all ; he 
was ready, or he would not have been in so much 
haste ; he was willing, or he would rather have 
looked another way ; he loved, or it would not have 
been the first thought of the morning. His Master 
did not come, but a messenger did, to fetch the ready 
one home ; the same preparation sufficed for both ; 
the longing soul was satisfied with either. 

Often, when in the morning the child of God 
awakes, wearily and encumbered with the flesh, 
perhaps from troubled dreams, perhaps with troub- 
led thoughts, his Father's secret comes presently 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 95 

across him ; he looks up, if not out, to feel, if not to 
see, the glories of that last morning when the trum- 
pet shall sound, and the dead shall arise indestructi- 
ble ; no weary limbs to bear the spirit down ; no fe- 
verish dreams to haunt the visions ; no dark fore- 
casting of the day's events, or returning memory of 
the griefs of yesterday. — Caroline Fry. 



SIMPLY TRUSTING. 

I know not the way I am going, 

But well do I know my Guide ; 
With a child-like trust I give my hand 

To the mighty Friend by my side. 
The only thing that I say to Him, 

As he takes it, is " Hold it fast ; 
Suffer me not to lose my way, 

And brino; me home at last." 

As when some weary wanderer, 

Alone in an unknown land, 
Tells the guide his destined place of rest, 

And leaves all the rest in his hand : 
'Tis home, 'tis home that we wish to reach, 

He who guides us may choose the way; 
Little we heed which path we take 

If nearer home each day. — Anon. 



96 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

THE DISCOURAGEMENTS OF LIFE. 

And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the 
Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom ; and the soul of the 
people was much discouraged because of the way. — Nunv 
bers xxi., 4. 

We doubt not that there will be seasons, even in 
the happiest Christian pilgrimage, when the soul 
will be discouraged, and even "much discouraged, 
because of the way." When difficulties, which we 
thought had passed over, will reappear ; when temp- 
tations, which we thought had been forever van- 
quished, will again rise up against us ; when sins, 
which we trusted we had forsaken, will once more 
mar our path ; and these things will lead us to feel a 
deep sensation of despondency ; we shall be tempted 
to think that God can not pardon delinquencies so 
frequent and unprovoked, and that we shall certainly 
perish on the journey, and never arrive at that jour- 
ney's blissful end. Let us be careful that such feel- 
ings lead us not into temptation ; that they do not 
close our eyes and our hearts against the infinity of 
God's mercy in Christ Jesus ; that they do not teach 
us to forget that " the blood of Jesus Christ cleans- 
eth us from all sin;" yea, all, "however deep, how- 
ever oft-repeated, if it be but faithfully and earnestly 
sought through the power of the Holy Ghost, and 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 97 

if, through the same promised aid, the sin be truly 
repented of, and steadily and perseveringly forsak- 
en." Perhaps you may find it difficult to think so, 
but remember that your thoughts are, blessed be 
God, not the limits of his mercy, for has he not him- 
self declared that "he is able to do abundantly above 
all that we can ask or think ?" Be not, therefore, 
"discouraged because of the way;" look to him who 
was "the author," to be also "the finisher of your 
faith," and you shall yet, under his divine and bless- 
ed guidance, reach the haven where you would be. 
— Henry Blunt. 



ANGEL OF PA TIENCE 

Angel of Patience ! sent to calm 
Our feverish brows with cooling palm; 
To lay the storms of hope and fear, 
And reconcile life's smile and tear; 
The throbs of wounded pride to still, 
And make our own our Father's will. 
Oh ! thou who mournest on thy way, 
With longings for the coming day; 
He walks with thee, that angel kind, 
And gently whispers, " Be resigned." 
Bear up, bear on, the end shall tell 
The dear Lord ordereth all things well. 

J. Gr. Whittiee, 



98 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST. 

And if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Christ: if so be that we suffer with hint, that we may 
be also glorified together. — Romans viii., 1 7. 

Observe how he enhances the gift by little and 
little. For, since it is a possible case to be children, 
and yet not become heirs — for it is not all children 
that are heirs — he adds this besides, that we are 
heirs. But the Jews, besides their not having the 
same adoption as we, were also cast out from the 
inheritance ; for " he will miserably destroy those 
wicked men, and will let out the vineyard to other 
husbandmen." And before this he said that "many 
shall come from the east and from the west, and 
shall sit down with Abraham, but the children of the 
kingdom shall be cast out." But even here he does 
not pause, but sets down something even greater 
than this. What may this be, then ? That we are 
heirs of God; and so he adds, "Heirs of God." And, 
what is still more, that we are not simply heirs, but 
also joint heirs with Christ. 

Observe how ambitious he is of bringing us near 
to the Master. For, since it is not all children that 
are heirs, he shows that we are both children and 
heirs ; next, as it is not all heirs that are heirs to 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 99 

any great amount, he shows that we have this point 
with us too, as we are heirs of God. Again, since 
it were possible to be God's heir, but in no sense 
joint heirs with the Only-Begotten, he shows that 
we have this also. 

And consider his wisdom. For, after throwing 
the distasteful part into a narrow compass, when he 
was saying what was to become of such as " live 
after the flesh," for instance, that " they shall die," 
when he comes to the more soothing part, he lead- 
eth forth his discourse into a large room, and so ex- 
pands it on the recompense of rewards, and in point- 
ing out that the gifts, too, are manifold and great ; for 
if the being a child were a grace unspeakable, just 
think how great a thing it is to be heir too ! But 
if this be great, much more is it to be joint heir. 

Then, to show that the gift is not of grace only ; 
and to give, at the same time, a credibility to what 
he says, he proceeds, " If so be that we suffer with 
him, that we may be also glorified together." If, he 
would say, we be sharers with him in what is pain- 
ful, much more shall it be so in what is good. For 
he who bestowed such blessings upon those who 
had wrought no good, how, when he seeth them la- 
boring and suffering so much, shall he do else than 
give them greater requital ! 

Having, then, shown that the thing was matter of 



100 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

return, to make men give credit to what was said, 
and prevent any from doubting, he shows farther 
that it has the virtue of a gift. The one he showed, 
that what was said might gain credit even with those 
that doubted, and that the receivers of it might not 
feel ashamed, as being evermore receiving salvation 
for naught ; and the other, that you might see that 
God outdoeth the toils by his recompenses. And 
the one he hath shown in the words, " If we suffer 
with him, that we may be also glorified together ;" 
but the other in what follows respecting the great- 
ness of the reward. 

THE GLORY OF OUR INHERITANCE. 

For we shall receive again our bodies incorrupti- 
ble, and be glorified together, and reign together with 
Christ. How great this is we shall see from hence 
— or, rather, there is no means of making us see it 
clearly now. But, to start from our present bless- 
ings, and to get from them at least some kind of 
scanty notice of it, I will endeavor, so far as I may be 
able, to put before you what I have been speaking of. 

Tell me, then, if, when you were grown old, and 
were living in poverty, and any one were to prom- 
ise suddenly to make you young, and to bring you 
to the very prime of life, and to render you very 
strong and pre-eminently beautiful, and were to give 



LIGHT AT E VENING TIME. 101 

you the kingdom of the whole earth for a thousand 
years, a kingdom in a state of the deepest peace, 
what is there that you would not choose to do and 
to suffer to gain this promise ? See, then, Christ 
promises not this, but much more than this. For the 
distance between old age and youth is not to be com- 
pared with the difference of corruption and incor- 
ruption, nor that of a kingdom and poverty to that 
of the future glory and the present, but the differ- 
ence is that of dreams and a reality. 

Or, rather, I have yet said nothing to the purpose, 
since there is no language capable of setting before 
you the greatness of the difference between things 
to come and things present. And as for time, there 
is no place for the idea of difference, for what mode 
is there for a man to compare with our present state 
a life that hath no end ? And as for the peace, it 
is as far removed from any present peace as peace 
is different from war ; and for the incorruption, it is 
as much better as a clear pearl is than a clod of 
clay. Or, rather, say as great a thing as one may, 
nothing can put it before you ; for were I even to 
compare the beauty of our bodies to the light of the 
sunbeam, or the brightest lightning, I shall not yet 
be saying aught that is worthy of their brilliancy. 
At present, if any one were to lead thee into a pal- 
ace, and in the presence of all were to give thee an 



102 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

opportunity of conversing with the king, and make 
thee sit at his table and join in his fare, thou wouldst 
call thyself the happiest of men. But when you are 
going up to heaven, and stand by the King of the 
universe himself, and vie with angels in brightness, 
and enjoy even that unutterable glory, do you hesi- 
tate ? And suppose one must need give up prop- 
erty, or put off even life itself, one ought to leap and 
exult, and mount on wings of pleasure. But you, 
that may get an office as a place to pillage from 
(for call a thing of this sort gain I can not), put all 
you have to hazard. But when the kingdom of 
heaven is set before you, that office which hath none 
to supersede you in it, and God bids you take, not a 
part of a corner of the earth, but the whole heaven 
entirely, are you hesitating, and reluctant, and gap- 
ing after money, and forgetful that if the parts of 
that heaven which we see are so fair and beautiful, 
how greatly so must the upper heaven be, and the 
heaven of heaven ? 

But since we have as yet no means of seeing this 
with our bodily eyes, ascend in thy thought, and, 
standing above this heaven, look up unto that heav- 
en beyond this, into that height without a bound, into 
that light surcharged with awe, into the crowds of 
angels, into the endless ranks of archangels, into the 
rest of the incorporeal powers. What language is 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 103 

to set before us that blessedness, brightness, glory ? 
Alas ! my soul. For weeping comes upon me and 
great groaning as I reflect what good things we 
have fallen from, what blessedness we are estranged 
from. For estranged we are ; speak not, then, of 
hell to me now, for more grievous than any hell is 
the fall from this glory, worse than punishments un- 
numbered the estrangement from that lot. But still 
we are gaping after this present world, and we take 
not thought of the devil's cunning, who by little 
things bereaves us of those great ones, and gives us 
clay that he may snatch from us gold, or, rather, that 
he may snatch heaven from us, and showeth us a 
shadow that he may dispossess us of the reality, and 
put phantoms before us in dreams (for such is the 
wealth of this world), that at daybreak he might 
prove us the poorest of men. Laying these things to 
heart, late though it be, let us fly from this craft, and 
pass to the side of things to come. — Chrysostom. 

" Arise, my soul, on wings sublime, 
Above the vanities of time ; 
Let faith now pierce the veil, and see 
The glories of eternity. 
Born by a new celestial birth, 
Why should I grovel here on earth ? 
Why grasp at vain and fleeting toys, 
So near to heaven's eternal joys V 



104 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 



ACCESS TO GOD. 

However early in the morning you seek tiie gate 
of access, you find it already open ; and however 
deep the midnight moment when you find yourself 
in the sudden arms of death, the winged prayer can 
bring an instant Savior near. And this wherever 
you are. It needs not that you ascend some special 
Pisgah or Moriah. It needs not that you should 
enter some awful shrine, or put off your shoes on 
some holy ground. Could a memento be reared on 
every spot from which an acceptable prayer has 
passed away, and on which a prompt answer has 
come down, we should find Jehovah-Shammah/'ihe 
Lord hath been here," inscribed on many a cottage 
hearth and many a dungeon floor. We should find 
it not only in Jerusalem's proud Temple and David's 
cedar galleries, but in the fisherman's cottage by the 
brink of Gennesaret, and in the upper chamber where 
Pentecost began. And whether it be the field where 
Isaac went to meditate, or the rocky knoll where 
Jacob lay down to sleep, or the brook where Israel 
wrestled, or the den where Daniel gazed on the hun- 
gry lions and the lions gazed on him, or the hill- 
sides where the man of sorrows prayed all night, we 
should still discern the prints of the ladder's feet let 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 105 

down from heaven — the landing-place of mercies, 
because the starting-point of prayer. And all this 
whatsoever you are. It needs no saint, no profi- 
cient in piety, no adept in eloquent language, no dig- 
nity of earthly rank. It needs but a simple Hannah 
or a lisping Samuel. It needs but a blind beggar 
or a loathsome lazar. It needs but a penitent pub- 
lican or a dying thief. And it needs no sharp or- 
deal, no costly passport, no painful expiation, to bring 
you to the mercy-seat ; or, rather, I should say, it 
needs the costliest of all ; but the blood of atone- 
ment — the Savior's merit — the name of Jesus, price- 
less as they are, cost the sinner nothing. They are 
freely put at his disposal, and instantly and constant- 
ly he may use them. This access to God in every 
place, at every moment, without any price or per- 
sonal merit, is it not a privilege ? — James Hamilton. 



Thou art with me, O my Father, 
In the changing scenes of life, 

In loneliness of spirit, 

And in weariness of strife. 

My sufferings, my comfortings, 

Alternate at thy will ; 
I trust Thee, O my Father, 

I trust Thee, and am still. 
H 



106 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

THE TRIAL OF OUR FAITH 

The first and great end of God's permitting the 
temptations which bring heaviness on his children 
is the trial of their faith, which is tried by these even 
as gold by the fire. Now we know gold tried in 
the fire is purified thereby, is separated from its 
dross. And so is faith in the fire of temptation ; the 
more it is tried, the more it is purified. Yea, and 
not only purified, but also strengthened, confirmed, 
increased abundantly by so many more proofs of 
the wisdom and power, the love and faithfulness of 
God. This, then, to increase our faith, is one gra- 
cious end of God's permitting those manifold tempt- 
ations. 

They serve to try, to purify, to confirm, and in- 
crease that living hope also, whereunto " the God 
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ hath begotten 
us again of his abundant mercy." Indeed, our hope 
can not but increase in the same proportions with 
our faith. On this foundation it stands. Believing 
in his name, living by faith in the Son of God, we 
hope for, we have confident expectation of the glory 
which shall be revealed ; and, consequently, what- 
ever strengthens our faith, increases our hope also. 
At the same time, it increases our joy in the Lord, 
which can not but attend a hope full of immortality. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 107 

In this view the apostle exhorts believers to " re- 
joice that ye are partakers of the sufferings of 
Christ." On this very account " happy are you ; for 
the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you." 
And hereby ye are enabled, even in the midst of 
sufferings, to "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full 
of glory." They rejoice the more, because the tri- 
als which increase their faith and hope increase 
their love also ; both their gratitude to God for all 
his mercies, and their good will to all mankind. Ac- 
cordingly, the more deeply sensible they are of the 
loving -kindness of God their Savior, the more is 
their heart inflamed with love to him who first loved 
us. The clearer and stronger evidence they have 
of the glory that shall be revealed, the more do they 
love him who hath purchased it for them, and given 
them the earnest thereof in their hearts ; and this, 
the increase of their love, is another end of the tempt- 
ations permitted to come upon them. 

Yet Another end of temptations is advance in ho- 
liness, holiness of heart, and holiness of conversa- 
tion ; the latter naturally resulting from the former, 
for a good tree will bring forth good fruit ; and all 
inward holiness is the immediate fruit of the faith 
that worketh by love. By this the blessed Spirit 
purifies the heart from pride, self-will, passions, from 
love of the world, from foolish and hurtful desires, 



108 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

from vile and vain affections. Besides that, sancti- 
fied afflictions have (through the grace of God) an 
immediate and direct tendency to holiness. Through 
the operation of his Spirit, they humble more and 
more, and abase the soul before God. They calm 
and weaken our turbulent spirit, tame the fierceness 
of our nature, soften our obstinacy and self-will, cru- 
cify us to the world, and bring us to expect all our 
strength from, and to seek all our happiness in God. 

And all these terminate in that great end — that 
our faith, hope, love, and holiness may be found (if 
it doth not yet appear) unto praise from God him- 
self, and honor from men and angels, and glory as- 
signed by the great Judge to all that have endured 
to the end. And this will be assigned in that awful 
day to every man according to his works, according 
to the work which God had wrought in his heart, 
and the outward works which he has wrought for 
God, and likewise according to what he had suf- 
fered ; so that all these trials are unspeakable gain. 
So many ways do these " light afflictions, which are 
but for a moment, work out for us a far more ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory." 

Add to this the advantage which others may re- 
ceive by seeing our behavior under affliction. We 
find by experience example frequently makes a 
deeper impression upon us than precept. And what 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 109 

examples have a stronger influence, not only on 
those who are partakers of the like precious faith, 
but even on them who have not known God, than 
that of a soul calm and serene in the midst of storms; 
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ; meekly accepting 
whatever is the will of God, however grievous it 
may be to nature ; saying, in sickness and pain, 
" The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I 
not drink it ?" in loss or want, " The Lord gave ; 
the Lord hath taken away : blessed be his holy 
name !" 

I am to conclude with some inferences. And, 
first, how wide is the difference between darkness 
of soul and heaviness ? which, nevertheless, are so 
generally confounded with each other even by ex- 
perienced Christians ! Darkness, or the wilderness 
state, implies a total loss of joy in the Holy Ghost; 
heaviness does not; in the midst of this we may re- 
joice with joy unspeakable. They that are in dark- 
ness have lost the peace of God ; they that are in 
heaviness have not ; so far from it that at the very 
time peace as well as grace may be multiplied unto 
them. In the former, the love of God is waxed cold, 
if it be not utterly extinguished ; in the latter, it re- 
tains its full force, or, rather, increases daily. In 
those, faith itself, if not totally lost, is, however, griev- 
ously decayed. Their evidence and conviction of 



110 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

things not seen, particularly of the pardoning love 
of God, is not so clear or strong as in time past, 
and their trust in him is proportionably weakened. 
These, though they see him not, yet have a clear, 
unshaken confidence in God, and an abiding evi- 
dence of that love, whereby all their sins are blotted 
out. So that, as long as we can distinguish faith 
from unbelief, hope from despair, peace from war, 
the love of God from the love of the world, we may 
infallibly distinguish heaviness from darkness. 

We may learn, therefore, that there may be need 
of heaviness, but there can be no need of darkness. 
There may be need of our being in heaviness for a 
season, in order to the ends above recited ; at least 
in this sense, as it is a natural result of those mani- 
fold temptations which are needful to try and in- 
crease our faith, to confirm and enlarge our hope, to 
purify our hearts from all unholy tempers, and to 
perfect us in love. And, by consequence, they are 
needful, in order to brighten our crown, and add to 
our eternal weight of glory. But we can not say 
that darkness is needful in order to any of these ends. 
It is no way conducive to them ; the loss of faith, 
hope, love, is surely neither conducive to holiness, 
nor to the increase of that reward in heaven which 
will be in proportion to our holiness on earth. 

From the apostle's manner of speaking, we may 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIMJZ 111 

gather that even heaviness is not always needful. 
Now for a season, if need be ; so it is not needful 
for all persons, nor for any person at all times. 
God is able — he has both power and wisdom to work 
when he pleases the same work of grace in any 
soul by other means, and, in some instances, he does 
so. He causes those whom it pleaseth him to go on 
from strength to strength even till they perfect ho- 
liness in his fear with scarce any heaviness at all, 
as having an absolute power over the heart of man, 
and moving all the springs of it at his pleasure. But 
these cases are rare. God generally sees good to 
try " acceptable men in the furnace of affliction," 
so that manifold temptations and heaviness, more 
or less, are usually the portion of his dearest chil- 
dren. 

We ought, therefore, to watch and pray, and use 
our utmost endeavors to avoid falling into darkness. 
But we need not be solicitous how to avoid, so much 
as how to improve by heaviness. Our great care 
should be so to behave ourselves under it, so to wait 
upon the Lord therein, that it may fully answer all 
the design of his love in permitting it to come upon 
us, that it may be a mean of increasing our faith, of 
confirming our hope, of perfecting us in all holiness. 
Whenever it comes, let us have an eye to these gra- 
cious ends, for which it is permitted, and use all dili- 



112 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

gence, that we may not " make void the council of 
God against ourselves.' 5 Let us earnestly work to- 
gether with him, by the grace which he is continu- 
ally giving us, in " purifying ourselves from all pol- 
lution both of flesh and spirit," and daily " growing 
in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," till we are 
received into his everlasting kingdom.- — John Wes- 
ley. 



CONTENTMENT. 

Were it not that God supports me, and by his Om- 
nipotent goodness often totally suspends all sense of 
worldly things, I could not sustain the weight many- 
days, perhaps hours. But even in this low ebb of 

fortune I am not without some kind interval 

Upon the best observation I could ever make, I am 
induced to believe that it is much easier to be con- 
tented without riches than with them. It is so nat- 
ural for a rich man to make his gold his god ; for, 
whatever a person loves most, that thing, be it what 
it will, he will certainly make his god. It is so diffi- 
cult not to trust in it, not to depend on it for support 
and happiness, that I do not know one rich man in 
the world with whom I would exchange conditions. 
— The Mother of the Wesleys. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 113 

LETTER TO AN AGED PERSON. 
Much honored Sir, — Grace, mercy, and peace be 
to you. I beseech you, sir, by the salvation of your 
precious soul, and the mercies of God, make good 
and sure work of your salvation, and try upon what 
ground-stone you have builded. Worthy and dear 
sir, if ye be upon sinking sand, a storm of death and 
a blast will loose Christ and you, and wash you off 
the rock ! Oh ! for the Lord's sake, look narrowly 
to the work. Read over your life with the light of 
God's daylight and sun. It is good to look to your 
compass and all you have need of ere you take ship- 
ping, for no wind can blow you back again. Re- 
member, when the race is ended, and the flag either 
won or lost, and you are in the utmost circle and 
border of time, and put your foot within the march 
of eternity, all your good things of this short night- 
dream shall seem to you like the ashes of a blaze 
of thorns or straw, and your poor soul shall be cry- 
ing, " Lodging, lodging, for God's sake !" Then 
shall your soul be more glad at one of your Lord's 
lovely smiles than if you had the charters of three 
worlds for all eternity. Let pleasures and gain, 
will and desires of this world, be put over in God's 
hands as arrested goods that you can not claim. 
Now, when you are drinking the grounds of your 



114 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

cup, and are upon the utmost ends of the last link 
of time, and old age, like death's long shadow, is 
casting a covering upon your days, it is no time to 
court this vain life, and to set love and heart upon it. 
It is near after supper ; seek rest and ease for your 
soul in God through Christ. Come in, come in to 
Christ, and see what you want, and find it in him. 
He is the short cut, as we used to say, and the near- 
est way to an outgate of all your burdens. I dare 
avouch, you shall be dearly welcome to him. An- 
gels' pens, angels' tongues, nay, as many worlds of 
angels as there are drops of water in all the seas, 
and fountains, and rivers of the earth, can not paint 
him out to you. I think his sweetness, since I was 
a prisoner, has swelled upon me to the greatness of 
two heavens. Oh for a soul as wide as the utmost 
circle of the highest heaven, that containeth all, to 
contain his love ! — Samuel Rutherford. 



OUR TRIALS. 
Trials are medicines which our gracious and 
wise Physician prescribes because we need them, 
and he proportions the frequency and the weight of 
them to what the case requires. Let us trust in his 
skill, and thank him for his prescriptions. — John 
Newton. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 115 



"CASTING ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM? 

Lord, it belongs not to my care, 

Whether I die or live ; 
To love and serve Thee is my share, 

And shall be while I live. 
If life be long, I will be glad, 

That I may long obey; 
If short, yet how can I be sad 

To soar to endless day? 

Christ leads me through no darker rooms 

Than he went through before; 
He that tmto Christ's kingdom comes, 

Must enter by His door. 
Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet 

Thy blessed face to see; 
For if Thy work on earth be sweet, 

What will Thy glory be. 

Then shall I end my sad complaints, 

My weary, sinful days ; 
And join with the triumphal hosts 

That sing Jehovah's praise. 
My knowledge of that life is small, 

The eye of faith is dim ; 
But 'tis enough that Christ knows all, 

And I shall be with him. 

Richard Baxter. 



116 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

COMFORT IN TBIJ3 ULATION. 

There is an island in a distant sea from whose 
shores the fishermen sail in tiny crafts to procure 
the treasures of the deep. During their absence 
thick mists often descend and cover highland, cliff, 
and beacon with so thick a veil that these hardy 
mariners are left without a mark by which to steer 
their laden barks. But in these dull hours they are 
not left to wander unguided on the pathless sea. 
When the time for their return arrives, the women 
of the islet — mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters 
— descend to the shores and raise the voice of song. 
Borne on the quiet air, their voices soon fall sweet- 
ly on the ears of the loved ones at sea. Guided by 
the well-known sounds, they steer their boats in safe- 
ty to the shore. 

And thus to thee, oh Christian, comes the voice of 
love from the celestial shore, as thou wanderest, a 
bewildered child of tribulation, on the misty sea of 
life. Hearken ! " Be of good cheer !" is the cry 
that greets thee. It comes from Jesus, who has 
overcome this world, which is the scene and source 
of your trials. His conquest of your adversary is 
the pledge of your victory. Therefore, "Be of good 
cheer." — Anon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 117 

SILENCE OF GOD. 

It sometimes seems as if God cared for nothing. 
The wicked are at ease. The good are vexed in- 
cessantly. The world is full of misery and confu- 
sion. The darling of the flock is always made the 
sacrifice. Some child, in the very midst of its glee, 
becomes suddenly silent — as a music-box, its spring 
giving way, stops in the midst of its strain, and nev- 
er plays out the melody. The mother staggers and 
wanders through day and night, as if these were 
mingled into one, and that shot through with preter- 
natural influence of woe. But think not that God's 
silence is coldness or indifference. When Christ 
stood by the dead, the silence of tears interpreted 
his sympathy more wonderfully than even that voice 
which afterward called back the footsteps of the 
brother from the grave, and planted them in life 
again. God's stillness is full of brooding. Not one 
tear shall be shed by you that does not hang heavi- 
er at his heart than any world upon his hand. — H. 
W. Beecher. 



It was when the doors were shut that He who 
came to succor and to save stood in the midst of 
his disciples. 



118 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



WE ARE ON OUR WAY TO GOD. 

From Egypt lately come, 

Where death and darkness reign, 
We seek our new, our better home, 

Where we our rest shall gain. 
Hallelujah ! 
We are on our way to God ! 

To Canaan's sacred bound 
We haste with songs of joy, 

Where peace and liberty are found, 
And sweets that never cloy. 
Hallelujah ! 

We are on our way to God ! 

There sin and sorrow cease, 

And every conflict's o'er; 
There we shall dwell in endless peace 9 

And never hunger more. 
Hallelujah ! 
We are on our way to God ! 

There in celestial strains 

Enraptured myriads sing ; 
There love in every bosom reigns, 

For God himself is King. 
Hallelujah ! 
We are on our way to God ! 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 119 

We soon shall join the throng, 

Their pleasure we shall share, 
And sing the everlasting song 

With all the ransomed there. 
Hallelujah ! 
We are on our way to God ! 

How sweet the prospect is ! 

It cheers the pilgrim's breast ; 
We're journeying through the wilderness, 

But soon shall gain our rest ! 
Hallelujah ! 
We are on our way to God ! — Thomas Kelly. 



THROUGH DARKNESS TO LIGHT. 

As we pass beneath the hills which have been 
shaken by earthquake and torn by convulsions, we 
find that periods of perfect repose succeed those of 
destruction. The pools of calm water lie clear be- 
neath their fallen rocks, the water-lilies gleam, and 
the reeds whisper among their shadows; the vil- 
lage rises again over the forgotten graves, and its 
church-tower, white through the storm twilight, pro- 
claims a renewed appeal to his protection in whose 
hand are "all the corners of the earth, and the 
strength of the hills is his also." .... It is just 
where " the mountains falling cometh to naught, and 



120 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

the rock is removed out of his place," that, in the 
process of years, the fairest meadows bloom be- 
tween the fragments, the clearest rivulets murmur 
from their crevices among the flowers ; and the clus- 
tered cottages, each sheltered beneath some strength 
of mossy stone, now to be removed no more, and, 
with their pastured flocks around them, safe from 
the eagle's swoop and the wolf's ravine, have writ- 
ten upon their fronts, in simple words, the mount- 
aineer's faith in the ancient promise, " Neither shalt 
thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh, for 
thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, 
and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with 
thee." — John Ruskin. 



BUILDING. 

If the architect of a house had one plan, and the 
contractor had another, what conflicts would there 
be ! How many walls would have to come down, 
how many doors and windows would need to be 
altered before the two could harmonize ! Of the 
building of life, God is the Architect, and man the 
contractor. God has one plan, and man has anoth- 
er. Is it strange that there are clashings and colli- 
sions ? — H. W. Beecher. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 121 



NIGHT OF SORROW— MORNING OF JOY. 

* Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the 
morning." 

Trials are ill to bear. To be reduced from af- 
fluence to poverty ; to lie on a bed of languor ; to 
pass sleepless nights of pain ; to be exposed to evil 
tongues; to sit amid the ruins of fortune; to lay 
loved ones in a lonesome grave — such things are not 
joyous, but grievous. Winter, no doubt, is not the 
pleasant season that summer brings, with her songs, 
and flowers, and long, bright sunny days. Bitter 
medicines, no doubt, are not savory meat ; yet he 
who believes that all things shall work together for 
good will be ready to thank God for physic as well 
as food ; and for the winter frost that kills the weeds 
and breaks up the soil, as for the dewy nights and 
sunny days that ripen the fields of corn. May God 
give us such a faith ! With nature weak, and grace 
imperfect — when there is no lifting of the cloud, and 
trials are severe and long protracted — oh! though 
it may be easy for an onlooker to preach patience, 
it is not easy for a sufferer to practice it. In such 
circumstances, how prone we are to take the case 
out of God's hands, and, getting discontented with 

his discipline, how ready are we to cry r "How long, 

T 



122 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 

O Lord, how long ? if it be possible, let this cup 
pass from me ;" or, " Take away this, and give me 
any one else to drink." Yet let me have a firm faith 
in God's truth and love; let me be confident that 
he will do what he has said, and perform all that he 
has promised, and I shall discover mercy's bow bent 
on fortune's blackest cloud, and, under the most try- 
ing providences, shall enjoy in my heart, and exhib- 
it to others in my temper, the blessed difference be- 
tween a sufferer that mourns and a spirit that mur- 
murs. "Call upon me in the day of trouble." 
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh 
in the morning." — Thomas Guthrie. 



LIGHT AND DARK. 

God doth checker his providences white and black, 
as the pillar of cloud had its light side and dark. 
Look on the light side of thy estate : who looks on 
the dark side of a landscape ? Suppose thou art 
cast in a lawsuit — there is the dark side ; yet thou 
hast some land left — there is the light side. Thou 
hast sickness in thy body — there is the dark side ; but 
grace in thy soul — there is the light side. Thou hast 
a child taken away — there is the dark side ; thy hus- 
band lives — there is the light side. God's provi- 
dences in this life are various, represented by those 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 123 

speckled horses among the myrtle-trees which were 
red and white (Zechariah i., 8) ; mercies and afflic- 
tions are interwoven; God doth speckle his work. 
" Oh," saith one, "I want such a comfort ;" but weigh 
all thy mercies in a balance, and that will make thee 
content. Look on the light side of your condition, 
and then all your discontent will easily be dispersed ; 
do not pore upon your losses, but ponder upon your 
mercies. What ! wouldst thou have no cross at all ? 
Why should one man think to have all good things, 
when he himself is good but in part ? Wouldst thou 
have no evil about thee ? Thou art not fully sanc- 
tified in this life ; how, then, thinkest thou to be fully 
satisfied ? Never look for perfection of contentment 
till there be perfection of grace. — Richard Watson. 



LOOK WITHIN. 
They that would be loved must render themselves 
lovable. They that would have friends must show 
themselves friendly. Do you complain of others ? 
Ask yourselves what you have done to make them 
happy. Do you complain that the consolations of 
God are small with you ? Look within, and inquire 
whether there is not some secret thing there which 
ought not to be, for " there is no peace, saith my 
God, to the wicked." — Anon. 



124 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



LIGHT THROUGH TEARS. 

You say that your sun has gone done while it is 
yet day, and that your path looks bleak and dreary 
in the gathering twilight. I know it, my friend ; I 
know that the brightness has vanished from your 
life, and that from henceforth you must endure hard- 
ness even unto the end. 

But take courage ; advance in perfect faith. Mer- 
cies you do not dream of now will be strewn around 
your footsteps. Powers which till now have lain as 
sleeping shadows within you will awake to life ; pow- 
ers of faith, of hope, of love, and of that perfect pa- 
tience which will enable you to lift your streaming 
eyes to heaven and say, " Lord, I am thine ; do with 
me what thou wilt ; strip me of all earthly coverings, 
only save my soul alive/' Then let the shades of 
evening fall ; let your path be dark and desolate ; but 
in the surrounding stillness you will hear voices from 
the everlasting hills, and the sound as of the waving 
of angels' wings around you. One also mightier 
than the angels will make his presence felt, and as 
you place your trembling hand in his and cry, 
" Lord, guide me, for I can not see," there will de- 
scend a stream of light upon your darkening path, 
and peace so perfect that with songs of praise and 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 125 

of thanksgiving you will pursue your way, willing 
to wait, willing to endure, willing to do all things 
for his dear sake who is leading you through the 
valley of the shadow of death to the fountains of 
living waters, to the land of everlasting joy. — Anon. 



HEARING AND DOING. 
When life is going smoothly on — when its sur- 
face is calm, its course easy and prosperous — when 
nothing further seems to be called for than a respect 
for religion and religious observances, and that it 
should be made to contribute to a Sunday or festi- 
val attendance on divine service, the want of an in- 
ward and vital principle of godliness is not so ap- 
parent. But in seasons of deep and heartfelt sor- 
row ; in the hour of distress and bitter disappoint- 
ment, or in the unguarded moments of turbulent 
passion, of resentment, and hatred, at such times a 
religious principle is especially required for guid- 
ance and restraint ; yet how seldom, in such cases, 
does a religious feeling supply the proper motive 
for action — seldom that, under such circumstances, 
men are found prepared to meet their trials as mem- 
bers of Christ's body, or as his followers and disci- 
ples. Every one must feel that it is a real, not a 



126 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

nominal Christian profession on which they must 
depend in the time of trial, in the hour of death, and 
at the day of judgment. The works of faith, the la- 
bors of love, therefore, which belong to us as mem- 
bers of Christ, must be carried on without delay, 
from the morning of life to its close ; not reserved 
for the languor of disease and the infirmities of age, 
but in the freshest years of life — the days of its 
health and strength, its energy of mind and body. 
Not in the pain and weakness of a sick-bed, or the 
distraction of a death-bed scene, but in the calm 
hours of a composed spirit and a collected mind. 
In fact, we must always be ready. — E. B. Ramsay. 



AFFLICTION 
Many and precious are the benefits arising from 
affliction. It tends to wean us from this world and 
enable us rightly to appreciate its fading enjoyments. 
When our path is strewed with roses, when nothing 
but brightness and fragrance float around us, how 
apt we are to be enamored with our present condi- 
tion, and to forget the crown of glory at the end of 
the Christian race, and to forget Jesus, and ever- 
lasting ages ! But affliction, with a warning voice, 
rouses us from the sweet delusion, warns our hearts 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 127 

to " arise and depart" from these inferior delights, 
because this is "not our rest" — true and lasting joys 
are not here to be found. The sweeping tempest 
and the beating surge teach the mariner to prize the 
haven, where undisturbed repose awaits his arrival. 
In like manner, disappointments, vexations, anxie- 
ties, and crosses teach us to long for those happy 
mansions where " all tears will be wiped away, and 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the 
former things are done away" (Revelation xxi., 40). 
— Anon. 



ABIDE WITH US. 

Abide with me ! Fast falls the eventide, 
The darkness deepens. Lord, with me abide ! 
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, 
Help of the helpless, O bide with me ! 

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; 
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away ; 
Change and decay in all around I see ; 

Thou who changest not, abide with me ! 

1 need Thy presence every passing hour ; 

What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power? 
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be ? 
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me ! 

Henry Francis Lyte. 



128 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



A PARABLE. 
"If any be afflicted, let him pray \" 

Hillel walked, on a moonlight night, with his 
disciple Sadi, in the garden of Olivet. 

Sadi said, " See that man there in the light of the 
moon ; what is he doing ?" 

Hillel replied, " It is Zadoc ; he sits on the grave 
of his son, and weeps." 

"Can not Zadoc, then," said the youth, "moderate 
his mourning ? The people call him the just and 
wise." 

" Shall he not on that account feel pain ?" said 
Hillel. 

"But," said Sadi, "What advantage, then, has the 
wise over the simple ?" 

The teacher replied, " Behold, the briny tear of 
his eye falls to the ground, but his countenance is 
direct to heaven." — F. W. Krummacher. 



THE GOSPEL NOT GLOOMY. 
The Gospel gloomy ! It is an anthem from the 
harps of heaven ; the music of the River of Life 
washing its shores on high, and pouring in cascades 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 129 

upon the earth. Not so cheerful was the song of 
the morning stars, nor shout of the sons of God so 
joyful. Gushing from the fountains of eternal har- 
mony, it was first heard on earth in a low tone of 
solemn gladness, uttered in Eden by the Lord God 
himself. This gave the key-note of the Gospel 
song. Patriarchs caught it up, and taught it to the 
generations following. It breathed from the harp 
of the psalmists, and rang like a clarion from tower 
and mountain top as prophets proclaimed the year 
of jubilee. Fresh notes from heaven have enriched 
the harmony, as the Lo^d of hosts and his angels 
have revealed new promises, and called on the suf- 
fering children of Zion to be joyful in their King. 
From bondage and exile, from dens and caves, from 
bloody fields, and fiery stakes, and peaceful death- 
beds have they answered in tones which have 
cheered the disconsolate, and made oppressors 
shake upon their thrones ; while sun, and moon, and 
all the stars of light, stormy wind fulfilling his word, 
the roaring sea and the fullness thereof, mountains 
and hills, fruitful fields, and all the trees of the wood, 
have rejoiced before the Lord, and the coming of 
his Anointed, for the redemption of his people, and 
the glory of his holy name. — W. J. Hoge. 



130 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE DUE TIME. 

" Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of 
God, that he may exalt you in due timer — i Peter v., 6. 

In due time — not thy fancied time, but his own 
wisely-appointed time. Thou thinkest, now I am 
sinking ; if he help not now, it will be too late. Yet 
he sees it otherwise ; he can let thee sink still low- 
er, and yet bring thee up again. He doth but stay 
till the most fit time. Thou canst not see it now, 
but thou shalt see it, that his chosen time is abso- 
lutely best. " God waiteth to be gracious" (Isaiah 
xxx., 18). Doth he wait, and wilt not thou ? Oh, 
the firm belief of his wisdom, power, and goodness, 
what difficulty will it not surmount ? So, then, be 
humble under his hand ; submit not only thy goods, 
thy health, thy life, but thy soul. Seek and wait for 
pardon. Lay thyself low before him, and speak and 
say, "Lord, I am justly under the sentence of death ; 
if I fall under it, thou art righteous, and I here ac- 
knowledge it; but there is deliverance in Christ; 
thither I would have recourse." And what, though 
most or all of our life should pass without much 
sensible taste even of spiritual comforts, a poor all 
it is ! Let us not over-esteem this moment, and so 
think too much of our better or worse condition in 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 131 

it, either in temporals or spirituals ; provided we can 
humbly wait for free grace, and depend on the word 
of promise, we are safe. It is " but w T eeping for a 
night, and joy comes in the morning" — that clearer 
morning of eternity to which no evening succeeds, 
—Robert Leighton. 



WE GL OR Y IN TRIB ULA TIONS ALS 0. 

When I can read my title clear 

To mansions in the skies, 
HI bid farewell to every fear, 

And wipe my weeping eyes. 

Should earth against my soul engage. 

And hellish darts be hurled, 
Then I can smile at Satan's rage, 

And face a frowning world. 

Let cares like a wild deluge come, 

And storms of sorrow fall, 
So I but safely reach my home, 

My God, my heaven, my All. 

There shall I bathe my weary soul 

In seas of heavenly rest, 
And not a wave of trouble roll 

Across my peaceful breast. — Isaac Watts. 



132 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



USES OF AFFLICTION. 

What an interpreter of Scripture is affliction ! 
How many stars in its heaven shine out brightly in 
the night of sorrow and pain which were unper- 
ceived or overlooked in the garish day of our pros- 
perity ! What an enlarger of Scripture is any oth- 
er outer or inner event which stirs the depths of 
our hearts, which touches us near to the core and 
centre of our lives ! 

Trouble of spirit, condemnation of conscience, 
sudden danger, strong temptation — when any of 
these overtake us, what veils do they take away, 
that we may see what hitherto we saw not; what 
new domains of God's Word do they bring within 
our spiritual ken ! How do promises, which once 
fell flat upon our ears, become precious now ; psalms 
become our own .... which were before aloof 
from us ! How do we see things now with the 
eye which before we knew only by the hearing of 
the ear ; which before men had told us, but now we 
ourselves have found ! So that on these accounts 
also the Scripture is fitted to be our companion, 
and to do us good all the years of our life. — Rich- 
ard Chenevix Trench. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 13; 



LOOK ON JESUS, NOT ON THE WAVES. 

But when Peter saw that the wind was boisterous, he 
was afraid ; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord- 
save me. — Matthew xiv., 30. 

" It was," says the evangelist, " when he saw the 
wind boisterous that he began to sink." He had, 
therefore, withdrawn his steadfast gaze from his di- 
vine Master, and was faithlessly looking around 
upon the dark clouds, and the still darker waters. 
How does every word of this instructive narrative 
agree with the believer's experience, and come home 
to the believer's heart ! When is it that the Chris- 
tian fails ? When is it that the Christian desponds ? 
When is it that the Christian begins to sink? Not 
in the hour, however great the trial or afflicting the 
dispensation, that the eye of faith is steadfastly fixed 
upon his Savior. This is not the hour when the 
Christian sinks. It is when he forgets and disobeys 
that most important command, " Look unto me, and 
be ye saved ;" when his path is overcast, and trouble 
and temptation so thickly surround him that his 
thoughts are led to fasten themselves upon these 
outward difficulties or inward trials, and thus to be 
withdrawn from the Fountain of strength and suc- 
cor. Christian friends, this is a temptation against 



134 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

which we can not too earnestly or too constantly 
be upon our guard, for it is one of the most com- 
mon and most successful with which our spiritual 
enemy assails us. Let nothing induce you to turn 
the eye of faith, even for a passing hour, from the 
Savior of sinners. While you look to him, you are 
safe ; danger begins the moment that you cease 
to do so. Once turn aside because the cloud is 
dark or the wind is boisterous ; give the reins to a 
desponding imagination ; follow out the delusive 
reasonings of a deceitful or a doubting heart, and 
the inevitable effect will be that every moment so 
spent will the more widely separate you from him 
who alone can be your refuge and your support. 
Your strength, your only strength, consists in cleav- 
ing daily, and hourly, to your Redeemer, and draw- 
ing from his unsearchable riches and his inexhaust- 
ible fullness a sufficiency for all your poverty and 
for all your need. — Henry Blunt. 



Look not mournfully into the past — 
It comes not back again ; 
Wisely improve the present — it is thine. 
Go forth to meet the shadowy future 
Without fear and with a manly heart. 

H. W. Longfellow. 



ZIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 135 



GOD A BOCK. 
What are the reasons for which our God is com- 
pared to a rock ? First, then, a rock is steadfast ; 
its stability, as contrasted with the flowing waters 
of the sea or the shifting sands of the desert, is 
the first thing that strikes us; and with regard to 
God, 

" Firm as a rock Thy promise stands ;" 

"With him is no variableness, neither shadow of 
turning." Next, a rock is often chosen as a site of 
a stronghold, from the security it gives. Men build 
their castles upon a rock for purpose of defense. 
The wise man built his house upon the rock for safe- 
ty in the storm : " The Lord is my rock and my 
fortress." Again, in Palestine we find that the rock 
often contained a cave or cleft, used as a hiding- 
place : " Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the 
dust." In such a cleft Moses was hidden: "I will 
put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee 
with my hand while I pass by" (Exodus xxxiii., 22). 
A rock became also a shelter in a common sense : 
" The shadow of a great rock in a weary land ;" 
" Lead me to the rock that is higher than I." And 
the rock that gave security was also a source of 



136 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

refreshment ; for " He opened the rock, and the wa- 
ters gushed out," so that " they drank of that spir- 
itual rock that followed them, and that rock was 
Christ." — Andrew Cameron. 



THE TREMBLING CHRISTIAN. 

It is the duty of good people to labor after a holy 
security and serenity of mind, and to use the means 
appointed for the obtaining it. Give not way to the 
disquieting suggestions of Satan, and to those tor- 
menting doubts and fears that arise in your own 
souls. Study to be quiet ; chide yourself for your 
distrusts ; charge yourselves to believe and to hope 
in God, that you may yet praise him. You are in 
the dark concerning yourselves. Do as Paul's 
mariners did : cast anchor, and wish for the day. 

Poor, trembling Christian ! thou art tossed with 
tempests, and not comforted. Try to lay thee down 
in peace and sleep , compose thyself into a sedate 
and even frame. In the name of him whom winds 
and seas obey, command down thy tumultuous 
thoughts, and say, " Peace, be still." Lay that ach- 
ing, trembling head of thine where the beloved dis- 
ciple laid his, in the bosom of the Lord Jesus ; or, 
if thou hast yet attained such boldness of access to 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 137 

him, lay that aching, trembling head of thine at the 
feet of the Lord Jesus by an entire submission to 
him, saying, "If I perish, I will perish here." Put it 
into his hand by an entire confidence in him ; sub- 
mit it to his disposal who knows how to speak to 
the heart. And if thou art not yet entered into this 
present rest that remaineth for the people of God, 
yet look upon it to be a land of promise ; and, there- 
fore, though it tarry, wait for it, for the vision is for 
an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak, and 
shall not lie. "Light is sown for the righteous," and 
what is sown shall come up again at last in a har- 
vest of joy. — M. Henry. 



THE RIPER FR UITS OF FAITH. 
The certainty that God will work all for good; 
the seeing the dawn of morning from the hour of 
midnight ; the being able to detect the folds of the 
wing under the black shell of the chrysalis ; the see- 
ing no single probable doorway to escape the diffi- 
culty, and yet to make no effort, but to feel sure that 
God will extricate ; to see Isaac bound on the altar, 
and yet to believe that from him will spring a multi- 
tude — are signs of a living faith which few possess, 

while the reward is boundless perfect peace. — Anon. 

K 



138 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE BIBLE IS A HISTORY OF COMPENSATION. 

The prophecies of the new covenant were utter- 
ed in seasons of depression — at the fall of Adam, 
the separation of Abraham, the bondage of Israel, 
the giving of the law by Moses, and the captivity 
of Babylon. Cloud and rainbow appear together. 
There is wisdom in the saying of Feltham, that the 
whole creation is kept in order by discord, and that 
vicissitude maintains the world. Many evils bring 
many blessings. Manna drops in the wilderness ; 
corn grows in Canaan. Rarely two afflictions or 
two trials console or trouble us at the same time. 
Human life is the prophet's declaration drawn out 
into examples. " God stayeth his rough wind in 
the day of his east wind." 

And one curious and beautiful feature of the di- 
vine scheme of compensation is seen in its chang- 
ing our sorrows into instruments and channels of 
joy and comfort. The curtained chamber of sick- 
ness sows the barren field with flowers. A sick 
man seated in his garden, or tottering down a green 
lane for a few minutes, might suppose himself trans- 
ported into the morning and sunlight of creation : 

The common air, the earth, the skies, 
To him are opening Paradise. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 139 

Plato relates that Socrates, on the day of his 
death, being in the company of his disciples, began 
to rub his leg, which had been galled by the chain, 
and mentioned the pleasurable sensation in the re- 
leased member. The Greek prison represents the 
world; the philosopher, the Christian; the fetters, 
the calamities of life. When one of these is loos- 
ened, the soul experiences a feeling of delight It 
is the leg of Socrates unchained. The iron enters 
into the soul, and afterward the wound is healed. 
St. Paul told the Corinthians that when he came 
to Macedonia his flesh had no rest; without were 
fighting, within were fears ; but God comforted him 
by "the coming of Titus." So it is ever. 

The future of a man is his recompense. Some- 
thing is promised which he desired, or something is 
withdrawn of which he complained. Hope is the 
compendium of compensation. The Esquimau, who 
numbers among his pleasures a plank of a tree cast 
by the ocean currents on his desolate shores, sees 
in the moon plains overshadowed by majestic for- 
ests; the Indian of the Orinoko expects to find in 
the same luminary green and boundless savannas, 
where people are never stung by musquitoes. Thus 
the chain of compensation encircles the world. — R. 
A. Willmott. 



140 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE OLD MANS BIBLE. 

My Bible own, my Bible old, 

Give back my faithful friend ; 
I've read it oft, I've read it long, 

I'll keep it to the end. 

You call it spoiled, and worthless deem ? 

Because it is so old; 
But this to me doth make it dear, 

Beyond all gems and gold. 

This is the page o'er which I wept 

When first my sins I knew, 
And here's the promise and the fount 

Whence all my hopes I drew. 

Twas here were writ our household names, 

My children's natal day ; 
And here is marked the doleful time 

When death took them away. 

'Tis not in gilt and purple dress 

The volume's price is known ; 
The heart and mem'ry have a wealth 

In what we call our own. 

My head is gray, my eye is dim, 

I can not court the new ; 
Give back the old, the worn, the tried, 

The wonted and the true. — William Adams. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 141 



SUBMITTING TO WHAT? 

The late Ephraim Peabody, about twenty years 
ago, was attacked with bleeding at the lungs, and 
was obliged to resign his pastoral duties at Cincin- 
nati, His only child was laid in a New England 
grave ; his young wife had temporarily lost the use 
of her eyes ; his home was broken up, and his pros- 
pects were very dark. They had sold their furni- 
ture, and went to board in a country tavern in the 
town of Dayton. 

One day, as he came in from a walk, his wife said 
to him, " I have been thinking of our situation here, 
and have determined to be submissive and patient" 

" Ah !" said he, " that is a good resolution ; let us 
see what we have to submit to. I will make a list 
of our trials. First, we have a home — w T e will sub- 
mit to that ; second, we have the comforts of life 
— we will submit to that ; third, we have each oth- 
er ; fourth, we have a multitude of friends ; fifth, we 
have a God to take care of us." 

" Ah !" said she, " I pray stop, and I will say no 
more about submission." 



Crosses are ladders to heaven. 



142 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



KEEP THE HEART ALIVE. 
The longer I live, the more expedient I find it to 
endeavor more and more to extend my sympathies 
and affections. The natural tendency of advancing 
years is to narrow and contract these feelings. I 
do not mean that I wish to form a new and sworn 
friendship every day, to increase my circle of inti- 
mates ; these are very different affairs. But I find 
it conduces to my mental health and happiness to 
find out all I can which is amiable and lovable in 
those I come in contact with, and to make the most 
of it. It may fall very far short of what I was once 
wont to dream of; it may not supply the place of 
what I have known, felt, and tasted, but it is better 
than nothing. It seems to keep the feelings and 
affections in exercise ; it keeps the heart alive in its 
humanity ; and, till we shall be all spiritual, this is 
alike our duty and our interest. — Bernard Barton. 



Fullness to such a burden is, 

That go on pilgrimage; 
Here little, and hereafter bliss, 

Is best from age to age. 

John Bunyan. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 143 



BEST AS IT IS. 
"If thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
died." These little words plainly showed that these 
afflicted sisters both believed that, had they been 
permitted to order the course of events, the result 
would have been far happier. If something had 
happened which has not happened, the event might 
have been less wretched. Oh how often do reflec- 
tions similar to this barb the arrow of affliction with 
a poignancy which nothing else can give ! These 
are the thoughts which in our wretchedness make us 
doubly wretched : " If we had taken such a course, 
if we had acted in some other manner, how differ- 
ent would have been the issue!" There can be 
nothing more unwise, perhaps few things more un- 
holy, than reasoning thus. In dwelling upon sec- 
ondary causes, we overlook the first great cause of 
all — the God of heaven and earth, who alone or- 
dereth all things, aud doeth all things well. Has 
the Lord no share in the decision? Did he not 
direct our present disappointment? Was he not 
present when our friend was taken from us ? Du- 
ties are ours, events are God's. — Henry Blunt. 



144: LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



LIFE'S CHANGES. 
Our life is hastening along. One scene presents 
itself, and then vanishes ; a second follows, and dis- 
appears in like manner. Now we are well ; anon 
sickness seizes us. At this moment every thing is 
prosperous and comfortable ; the next all is dark and 
miserable. From reflecting upon these changes, 
however, we may learn two important lessons — the 
one solemn, the other encouraging. It is a solemn 
consideration that, amidst all the fluctuations of life, 
we are still making rapid advances toward eternity. 
Every wave, whether placid or turbulent, wafts us 
nearer to that awful shore. Like a ship which con- 
tinues to make its way, whatever the passengers on 
board may be doing, we are perpetually hurried for- 
ward, whatever may be our employments. But as 
this is a solemn thought, so is it encouraging to con- 
trast the uncertainty of all things here below with 
the unchangeableness of our gracious and Almighty 
Lord. This is our safety, that there is one who 
hath said, "Because I live, ye shall live also;" and 
that there is an unfailing fountain of love and mercy 
in him to remedy all the evils of time, and crown us 
with every blessing. — Life of Bishop Wilson, of 
Calcutta. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 145 



DEPENDENCE UPON GOD. 

"Casting all your care upon him, for he careth 
for you." .... What a calm, what a peace in the 
midst of a storm does this gracious habit of godly 
dependence give to a man! Suppose to-morrow 
that you were expecting something very important 
to take place, and a heavy burden of care is the 
natural consequence of so grave an expectation. 
You are calm and composed, your mind is at peace. 
You have done your best to meet the emergency, 
and, as a Christian, as a man of God, you cast all 
your care on him, knowing assuredly that he careth 
for you. 

And there is really a to-morrow r of importance to 
every one of us. We shall have to unloose the 
bands of mortality. We shall have to take off our 
outer garments, and, bidding good-night to all about 
our strange and narrow bed, we shall have to lie 
down for the last time on earth, and let death put out 
our light. Oh ! what a happy thing it will be for 
faith, the handmaid of the Lord, to sound in our ear 
for the last time, " Casting all your care upon him ;" 
and for us to reply, " Yes ! yes ! he careth for us !" 
and then to fall asleep. — J. Hullett. 



146 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



SANCTIFICATION A WORK OF TIME. 

My daughter, do not imagine that the work of 
sanctification will be an easy one. Cherry-trees 
bear fruit soon after they are planted, but that fruit 
is small and perishable ; while the palm, the prince 
of trees, requires a hundred years before it is ma- 
ture enough to bring forth dates. A lukewarm de- 
gree of piety may be acquired in a year, but the 
perfection to which we aspire, oh my dear daugh- 
ter, must be the growth of long and weary years.— 
Jacqueline Pascal. 



MEMORIES OF THE WA Y. 
" Thou shalt remember all the way which the 
Lord thy God hath led thee." All the way — 
it is necessary that all the way should be remem- 
bered — the hill of difficulty as well as the valley of 
humiliation; the time of prosperity as well as the 
time of pain. Necessary for our advantage that 
we may understand our position, learn the lessons 
of providence and grace ; necessary that we may 
construct a narrative, for every event in our history 
is connected and mutually interpreted ; necessary 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 147 

that we may trace the outworkings of Jehovah's 
plan in the successive achievements of our lives. 
And if by the memory of joy you are impressed 
with God's beneficence, kept in cheerful piety, and 
saved from the foul sin of repining ; and if by the 
memory of sorrow you are moulded into a gentler 
type, taught a softer sympathy, and receive a heav- 
enward impulse, and anticipate a blessed reunion ; 
if by the memory of sin you are reminded of your 
frailty and rebuked of your pride, stimulated to re- 
pentance and urged to trust in God, then it will be 
no irksomeness, but a heaven-sent and precious 
blessing that you have thus remembered the way 
that the Lord hath led thee in the wilderness. — 
William M. Punshon. 



MEMORIAL OF GRATITUDE. 
A very poor and aged man, busied in planting 
and grafting an apple-tree, was rudely interrupted 
by this interrogation : " Why do you plant trees, 
who can not hope to eat the fruit of them ?" He 
raised himself up, and, leaning upon his spade, re- 
plied, " Some one planted trees for me before I was 
born, and I have eaten the fruit. I now plant for 
others, that the memorial of my gratitude may exist 
when I am dead and gone." — Anon. 



US LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



"NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE:' 

Thy way, not mine, Lord, 

However dark it be ! 
Lead me by Thine own hand, 

Choose out the path for me. 

Smooth let it be or rough, 
It will be still the best ; 

Winding or straight, it leads 
Right onward to Thy rest. 

I dare not choose my lot ; 

I would not if I might ; 
Choose Thou for me, my God ; 

So shall I walk aright. 

The kingdom that I seek 
Is Thine ; so let the way 

That leads to it be Thine, 
Else I must surely stray. 

Take Thou my cup, and it 
With joy or sorrow fill, 

As best to Thee may seem ; 
Choose Thou my good and ill ; 

Choose Thou for me my friends, 
My sickness or my health ; 

Choose Thou my cares for me, 
My poverty or wealth. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 149 

Not mine, not mine the choice, 

In things or great or small; 
Be Thou my Guide, my Strength, 

My Wisdom, and my All. 

HoRATIUS BoNAR. 



LEAD, HINDI Y LIGHT. 

Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom, 

Lead Thou me on ; 
The night is dark, and I am far from home ; 

Lead Thou me on ; 
Keep Thou my feet ; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene — one step enough for me. 

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou 

Shouldst lead me on ; 
I loved to choose and see my path ; but now 

Lead Thou me on. 
1 loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, 
Pride ruled my will. Bemember not past years. 

So long Thy power has bless'd me, sure it still 

Will lead me on 
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 

The night is gone, 
And with the moon those angel faces smile 
Which I have loved long since, and lost a while. 

John Henry Newman. 



150 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE VISION OF GOD AND A KNOWLEDGE OF 
HEAVENLY MYSTERIES. 

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek 
after ; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the 
days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to in- 
quire in his temple. — Psalm xxvii., 4. 

Dost thou ask what he desires ? Peradventure 
it is a land flowing with milk and honey, in a carnal 
sense, although this is to be spiritually sought after 
and desired ; or, peradventure, the subjugation of his 
enemies, or the death of his personal foes, or the 
power and wealth of this world. For he is on fire 
with love ; much he sigheth, and gloweth, and pant- 
eth. Let us see what he desires : " One thing have 
I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after." What 
is it he doth seek after ? " That I may dwell," saith 
he, " in the house of the Lord all the days of my 
life." And suppose thou dost dwell in the house of 
the Lord, what will be the source of thy joy there? 
" That I may behold," saith he, " the fair beauty of 
the Lord." 

My brethren, why is it that you cry out, why is it 
that you exult, why is it that you love, but because 
the spark of this affection is there ? What long 
you for, I pray you ? Can it be seen with the eyes ? 
Can it be touched ? Is it some beauty which de- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 151 

lights the eyes ? Were not the martyrs ardently 
loved ? and when we commemorate them, do not 
we burn with love ? What love we in them, breth- 
ren ? Their limbs torn by wild beasts ? What 
more loathsome if you ask the eyes of the flesh ! 
What more beautiful if thou ask the eyes of the 
heart ! What would be thy feelings at the sight of 
some beautiful youth who was a thief? How would 
thine eyes be shocked ? Would the eyes of the 
flesh be shocked ? If thou ask them, nothing more 
exquisitely adjusted, more gracefully proportioned 
than that person. The symmetry of the limbs, and 
the comeliness of the complexion, allure the eyes ; 
yet when thou hearest that he is a thief, thy mind 
revolts from him. On the other hand, thou seest an 
old man, bent double, staying himself upon a staffs 
moving himself with extreme difficulty, furrowed all 
over with wrinkles ; what seest thou to delight thine 
eyes ? Thou art told that he is a righteous man : 
thou lovest him ; thou embracest him. 

Such are the rewards promised to us, my breth- 
ren. Let such be the object of your affections ; 
such the kingdom for which you sigh ; such the 
country for which you long, if you would attain to 
that with which our Lord did come — that is, to 
grace and truth. But if they be bodily rewards 
which thou hast coveted at God's hand, thou art still 



152 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

under the law, and the law, for that very reason, 
thou wilt not fulfill. For when thou perceivest those 
temporal things poured forth in abundance upon 
men who offend God, thy footsteps falter, and thou 
sayest to thyself "Behold, I worship God; every 
day I run to church ; my knees are worn with pray- 
ers, and yet I am always sick. Men commit mur- 
ders, they are guilty of extortion, they overflow and 
abound, every thing goes on well with them." Were, 
then, such as these the things thou didst seek at 
God's hand? Certain it is thou didst belong to 
grace. If the grace God gave thee is grace be- 
cause gratuitous, because he freely gave, then do 
thou freely love. Do not love God for a reward ; 
let himself be thy reward. Let thy soul say, " One 
thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek 
after ; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all 
the days of my life, that I may behold the fair beau- 
ty of the Lord." Fear not to be cloyed and sur- 
feited. Such will be that beauty that it will be al- 
ways present with thee, and yet thou wilt never be 
satiated ; or, rather, thou wilt be always satiated and 
never satiated. For if I should say thou wilt not be 
satiated, this would imply hunger ; and if thou wilt 
be satiated, I am afraid lest I convey the idea of 
surfeit. Where there shall be neither surfeit nor 
yet hunger, I know not what word to use. But God 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 153 

hath it to make good to those who find no word 
wherewith to express it, yet believe that they shall 
receive it. — Augustine. 



HE A VEN UB HOME. 
A man should be bound for home, as it were, as 
you see all creatures be. Let a stone be removed 
from home, from the centre, let it be put out of its 
place, it will never be quiet till it be put home again. 
Let a bird be far from the nest and it grows toward 
night, she will home even upon the wings of the 
wind. Let every poor beast and every creature, 
though the entertainment be but slender at home, 
yet if you let it slip loose, it will home as fast as it 
can. Every thing tends to its place ; there is its 
safety, there is its rest, there it is preserved, there it 
is quiet. Now, since it is so with every creature, 
why should it not be so with us ? Why should we 
not be for our home ? This, my brethren, is not 
our home ; here is not our rest. There is our home 
where our chief friends be, where our Father God 
is, where our husband Christ is, where our chief 
kindred and acquaintance be, all the prophets, and 
apostles, and martyrs of God departed are — that 
is our home, and thither should we go. — Richard 

Sibbes. 

L 



154 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

THE AB TJNDANT ENTRANCE. 

For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abund- 
antly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ. — 2 Peter i., 11. 

It is because God made the entrance into the ev- 
erlasting kingdom that it is so broad and free. If 
man had made it, it would have been not only nar- 
row and difficult, but a failure outright. And, in- 
deed, man has attempted to make these human gate- 
ways into the everlasting kingdom, and he has per- 
suaded himself that they are very fair and success- 
ful, and all sorts of complex rules have been laid 
down to secure the passage through, but no man 
ever yet found his way into the everlasting king- 
dom of Jesus over these legal thresholds. God's 
way is free salvation to all who will take it by trust- 
ing his Son. The Gospel is thus marvelously sim- 
ple — so simple that thousands overlook it. There 
is no crook or corner in it ; the smallest child can 
comprehend it as well as the loftiest philosopher. 
It is just this, "Believe on the Lord Jesus." There 
is no one atom more needed — this is the whole Gos- 
pel. Man may learn many interesting and profit- 
able particulars besides, but this is the saving truth ; 
this makes the saint ; this secures peace and joy 
eternal. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 155 

Now it is because of this divine simplicity of sal- 
vation that the apostle can use the word " abund- 
antly" in the text — "an entrance ministered unto 
you abundantly." We see the same word in the 
epistle to Titus (hi., 5, 6), " The Holy Spirit which 
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ." 
It is elsewhere translated " richly," and refers to the 
profusion of the supply. There is enough and to 
spare. No demand upon us need find us straitened. 
If sin rises up and says, "I'm the monster that shall 
destroy you," we reply, " Christ has robbed you of 
your fangs, and we defy you." If Satan suggest his 
doubts, we can refer him to the Master, who has 
undertaken to transact all our business with Satan. 
Past remissness, present care, infirmity, trial — we 
can make one bundle of them all, and commit them 
to the arm that is ready to receive all our burden. 
It is an abundant entrance, and so any dwelling 
upon any extreme unworthiness, although all very 
true, is quite away from the point. God knew that 
unworthiness before I did, and knows it now far 
better than I do, and he made the entrance abund- 
ant so as to let in the full breadth of my unworthi- 
ness. It is utterly vain for me to hunt up an objec- 
tion when God has provided against every objec- 
tion for my soul. When it is grace, and that grace 
infinite, that has made the provision, how foolish it 



156 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

is to be objecting any personal deficiency, and sug- 
gesting any doubts and difficulties on that score ! 
An acceptance of the grace utterly annihilates all the 
objections, and leaves the doubts nothing to stand 
on. Now, although God has made this entrance 
into his kingdom so gloriously broad that not a sin- 
ner need talk of inability, nor a saint fret himself 
into melancholy, yet we find sinners all over say- 
ing, " I can't," and saints all over making themselves 
very uncomfortable. In regard to the sinners who 
say " I can't," let me simply say you'd come nearer 
the truth if you say "I won't." You can't read the 
Bible and say "I can't." "Whosoever will, let him 
come and take the water of life freely," doesn't sound 
very suggestive of inability. But the text is not 
addressed to sinners, but to saints, and to God's peo- 
ple I now commend it. I speak to the melancholy 
ones who have made God's abundant entrance so 
narrow that it is always pinching them. The text 
says, " So the entrance shall be ministered (or fur- 
nished) unto you abundantly." What does that " so" 
refer to ? To the acquisition and growth of the 
seven graces in addition to faith, to wit, virtue, 
knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brother- 
ly kindness, and charity. In other words, growth 
in the elements of the Christian life will widen the 
entrance to us individually, making us more and 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 157 

more aware of the exceeding fullness of our salva- 
tion. The use of the same verb (and an uncom- 
mon one) in the Greek is striking, " Giving all dili- 
gence, furnish with your faith virtue," etc "for 

so an entrance shall he furnished you abundantly." 
If you'll diligently add to your graces, God will add 
to your peace and joy. Here, then, we have reach- 
ed the great lesson of the text. May the Holy Spir- 
it write it deeply on our hearts ! — Howard Crosby. 



DEATH WELCOME. 
Death comes at Christ's command to call the be- 
liever to himself; and, grim and ghastly though be 
the look of the messenger, surely that may well be 
welcome in the sweetness of the message he brings. 
Death comes to set the spirit free ; and, rude though 
be the hand that knocks off the fetters, and painful 
though be the process of liberation, what need the 
prisoner care for that when it is to freedom, life, 
and honor he is about to be emancipated ? Death 
strikes the hour of the soul's everlasting espous- 
als; and, though the sound may be harsh, what 
matters that? To common ears it may seem a 
death-knell ; to the ear of faith it is a bridal peal. — 
John Caird. 



158 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE ROD. 
Visiting a friend one day, Gotthold found him 
seated with his family at table, and observed that 
the children all received a due portion of food, and 
were required to eat it in a quiet and orderly way ; 
but that beside the father's plate there was also ly- 
ing upon the table a rod, to warn them against im- 
proprieties of conduct and manners. He thereupon 
observed to his friend : "You treat your children as 
our heavenly Father treats his. He, too, prepares 
a table before them, and gives them all sorts of good 
things, spiritual and temporal, to enjoy, and yet the 
rod, which is another name for the cross, must like- 
wise be at hand, that we may not become froward, 
but walk in holy fear and filial obedience. Of this 
truth God has given us almost a similar emblem in 
the sacred Scriptures ; for the ark of the Old Testa- 
ment contained not only the goldeji pot with the 
manna, but also Aaron's rod, which blossomed, to 
intimate the authority he exercises over his family, 
and teach us that, although he feeds the members 
with the hidden manna of his sweet grace, he also 
purposes to use the rod if he shall see cause, and to 
do both the one and the other for our welfare and 
salvation. The same hand prepares the table and 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 159 

wields the rod. From one and the same heart flow 
both comfort and cross. God continues our loving 
and gracious Father when he chastens and cor- 
rects no less than when he refreshes and comforts 
us. A good man once pertinently said that it was 
a doubtful matter whether bread or chastisement 
was best for children, because, while bread was nec- 
essary for them to live, chastisement was necessary 
for their living well. Even so must we, too, confess 
that the dear cross is as needful to us as life itself, 
and far more needful and salutary than all the bless- 
ings and honors of the world. In heaven, the glori- 
fied spirits, who now fully understand its mystery, 
and enjoy in the everlasting rest the sweet fruit 
which grows upon the thorny brier, will thank the 
all-wise and gracious God especially for his holy 
cross and fatherly correction, without which they 
would never have reached the seat of bliss and glory. 
Let us also learn this lesson, and say from the heart, 
4 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I 
might learn thy statutes.' Whether we like it or 
not, the Lord our God will not change his ways. 
Whosoever wishes to be a child must take bread 
and sorrow together from his hand. No guest at 
his table need think it strange to see the rod upon 
it, and be obliged to eat his heavenly Father's bread 
moistened with tears. Here in this world it can 



160 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

not be otherwise ; but when we shall one day sit at 
his table in heaven, every rod shall be cast into the 
fire. Oh, my Father ! I am becoming accustomed 
by degrees to thy ways, and have no objection to 
the rules of thy domestic government. Daily do I 
strive to learn not only to relish the bread, but also 
to kiss the rod." — Christian Scriver. 



LOVE OF GOD. 
History's noblest deed and record of love is in 
the self-devotion of one generous heathen, Pylades, 
who forfeited his life to save his friend. But " God 
commendeth his love to us in that, while we were 
yet sinners, Christ died for us." "You have not 
yet seen," says a great writer and profound thinker, 
" the greatest gift of all — the heart of God, the love 
of his heart, the heart of his love. And will he, in 
very deed, show us that ? Yes ; unveil that cross 
and see. It was his only mode of showing us his 
heart. It is infinite love laboring to reveal itself, 
agonizing to utter the fullness of infinite love ; apart 
from that act, a boundless ocean of love concealed 
in the heart of God. But now it has found an 
ocean channel. Beyond this he can not go. Once 
and forever the proof has been given — 'God is 
love.' " — J. R. Macduff. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 161 



"BEST ONLY IN GOD!" 

My spirit longeth for Thee, 
Within my troubled breast^ 

Although I be unworthy 
Of so divine a Guest. 

Of so divine a Guest 

Unworthy though I be, 
Yet has my heart no rest 

Unless it come from Th^e- 

Unless it come from Thee, 

In vain I look around ; 
In all that I can see 

No rest is to be found. 

No rest is to be found 

But in Thy blessed love ; 
Oh let my wish be crowned. 

And send it from above ! 

John Byeom. 



In pain, sickness, trouble, methinks I hear God 
say, " Take this medicine, exactly suited to the 
case, prepared and weighed by my own hand, and 
consisting of the choicest drugs which heaven af- 
fords." 



162 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



SIN FOB GIVEN IN OLD A GE 

Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
snow. — Isaiah i., 18. 

Oh ye that lean wearily on your staffs the sup- 
port of your old age, have ye not sins still clinging 
to your garments ? Are your lives as white as the 
snowy hair that crowns your head ? Do you not 
still feel that transgression besmears the skirts of 
your robe and mars its spotlessness ? How often 
are you now plunged into the ditch till your own 
clothes do abhor you ? Cast your eyes over the six- 
ty, the seventy, the eighty years during which God 
hath spared your lives, and can ye for a moment 
think it possible that ye can number up your innu- 
merable transgressions, or compute the weight of 
the crimes which you have committed ? Oh ye 
stars of heaven! the astronomer may measure your 
distance and tell your height, but, oh ye sins of man- 
kind ! ye surpass all thought. Oh ye lofty moun- 
tains, the home of the tempest, the birthplace of the 
storm ! man may climb your summits and stand 
wonderingly upon your snows, but, ye hills of sin ! 
ye tower higher than our thoughts ; ye chasms of 
transgressions ! ye are deeper than our imagination 
dares to dive. Do you accuse me of slandering hu- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 163 

man nature ? It is because you know it not. If 
God had once manifested your heart to yourself, 
you would bear me witness that, so far from exag- 
gerating, my poor words fail to describe the desper- 
ateness of our evil. Oh ! if we could each of us 
look into our hearts to-day — if our eyes could be 
turned within so as to see the iniquity that is graven 
as with the point of the diamond upon our stony 
hearts, we should then say to the minister, that how- 
ever he may depict the desperateness of guilt, yet 
can he not by any means surpass it. How great, 
then, beloved, must be the ransom of Christ when 
he saved us from all these sins ! The men for 
whom Jesus died, however great their sin, when 
they believe, are justified from all their transgres- 
sions. Though they may have indulged in every 
vice and every lust which Satan could suggest and 
which human nature could perform, yet, once be- 
lieving, all their guilt is washed away. Year after 
year may have coated them with blackness till their 
sin hath become of double dye ; but in one moment 
of faith, one triumphant moment of confidence in 
Christ, the great redemption takes away the guilt 
of numerous years. Nay, more ; if it were possible 
for all the sins that men had done, in thought, or 
word, or deed, since worlds were made or time be- 
gan, to meet on one poor head, the great redemp- 



164 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

tion is all-sufficient to take all these sins away, and 
wash the sinner whiter than the driven snow. — Spur- 
geon. 



RELIGIOUS DEPRESSION. 

There are hours in which physical derangement 
darkens the windows of the soul ; days in which 
shattered nerves make life simply endurance ; 
months and years in which intellectual difficulties, 
pressing for solution, shut out God. Then faith 
must be replaced by hope. "What I do thou 
knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." 
Clouds and darkness are round about him ; but 
righteousness and truth are the habitation of his 
throne. " My soul, hope thou in God, for I shall 
yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance 
and my God." 

David's hope was in God. 

The mistake we make is to look for a source of 
comfort in ourselves ; self-contemplation, instead of 
gazing upon God. In other words, we look for 
comfort precisely where comfort can never be. 

For, first, it is impossible to derive consolation 
from our feelings, because of their mutability ; to- 
day we are well, and our spiritual experience, par- 
taking of these circumstances, is bright ; but to-mor- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 165 

row some outward circumstances change — the sun 
does not shine, or the wind is chill, and we are low, 
gloomy, and sad. Then, if our hopes were unrea- 
sonably elevated, they will now be unreasonably de- 
pressed ; and so our experience becomes flux and 
reflux, ebb and flow, like the sea, that emblem of in- 
stability. 

Next, it is impossible to get comforts from our 
own acts ; for, though acts are the test of character, 
yet in a low state no man can judge justly of his 
own acts. They assume a darkness of hue which 
is reflected on them by the eye that contemplates 
them. It would be well for all men to remember 
that sinners can not judge of sin, least of all can 
we estimate our own sin. 

Besides, we lose time in remorse. I have sinned. 
Well, by the grace of God, I must endeavor to do 
better for the future. But if I mourn for it over- 
much all to-day, refusing to be comforted, to-morrow 
I shall have to mourn the wasted to-day, and that, 
again, will be the subject of another fit of remorse. 

In the wilderness, had the children of Israel, in- 
stead of gazing on the serpent, looked down on their 
own wounds, to watch the process of the granula- 
tion of the flesh, and see how deep the wound was, 
and whether it was healing slowly or fast, cure 
would have been impossible ; their only chance was 



166 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

to look off the wounds. Just so, when giving up 
this hopeless and sickening work of self-inspection, 
and turning from ourselves in Christian self-obliv- 
ion, we gaze on God, then first the chance of con- 
solation dawns. 

He is not affected by our mutability; our changes 
do not alter him. When we are restless, he remains 
serene and calm; when we are low, selfish, mean, 
or dispirited, he is still the unalterable / AM — " the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever, in whom is no 
variableness, neither shadow of turning." What 
God is in himself — not what we may chance to feel 
him in this or that moment to be — that is our hope. 
" My soul, hope thou in God." — F. W. Robertson. 



THE BELIEVER'S DEATH. 

Though a believer may have his darkness, doubts, 
and fears, and many conflicts of soul while on his 
dying bed, yet usually these are all over and gone 
before his last moments come. From the gracious 
promises of God to be with his people even unto 
death, and from the observations I have made 
through the course of my life, I am of opinion that 
generally the people of God die comfortably, their 
spiritual enemies being made to be as still as a stone 
while they pass through Jordan. — John Gill. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 167 



SUFFERING A HIGHER PATH THAN DOING. 

Saul had anxiously inquired, "What wouldst thou 
have me to do ?" Our Lord sends his minister to 
tell him, not what great things he shall do, but what 
far greater things he shall suffer. 

Sufferings are, after all, the great achievements 
of the Christian. Where one man is permitted to 
effect mighty things for his Lord by carrying the 
words of the everlasting Gospel over the burning 
sands of Africa, or the frozen mountains of the 
north, thousands and tens of thousands are called 
to the high privilege of the Philippians of old, " not 
only to believe, but also to suffer for his name's 
sake." To sit on his right hand and on his left are 
not now to be given, but to drink of his cup of trial, 
and to be baptized with his baptism of affliction, are 
still among the choicest blessings which he bestows 
upon his people. Be not, then, disappointed, if, with 
every desire to do great things for your divine 
Master, you are denied the power or the opportuni- 
ty. If, as it has been beautifully said, " They also 
serve who only stand and wait," how much more do 
they serve who are called upon to endure and to 
suffer ! Yes ; in the chamber of sickness, upon the 
bed of pain; you may as greatly glorify your Re- 



168 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

deemer as amid the trials of the mission or the tor- 
tures of the stake ; and often does it please your 
heavenly Father that while you are meditating 
what great things you shall do for Christ, he is pre- 
paring the great things you shall suffer. 



THE ABIDING CITY. 

For here we have no continuing city. — Hebrews xiii., 14, 

We've no abiding city here : 

This may distress the worldling's mind, 

But should not cost the soul a tear, 
Who hopes a better rest to find. 

We've no abiding city here : 

Sad truth ! were this to be our home; 

But let this thought our spirits cheer — 
We seek a city yet to come. 

We've no abiding city here : 

Then let us live as pilgrims do ; 
Let not the world our rest appear, 

But let us haste from all below. 

We've no abiding city here : 

We seek a city out of sight ; 
Zion its name, the Lord is there, 

It shines with everlasting light. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 109 

Zion ! Jehovah is her strength ; 

Secure she smiles at all her foes ; 
And weary travelers at length 

Within her sacred walls repose. 

Oh sweet abode of peace and love, 

Where pilgrims freed from toil are bless'd ! 

Had I the pinions of the dove, 
I f d fly to Thee, and be at rest. 

Thomas Kelly. 



LOOKING TO CHRIST. 
There is no holiness if thou, Lord, withdraw thy 
presence ; no wisdom profiteth if thy Spirit cease 
to direct ; no strength availeth without thy support ; 
no chastity is safe without thy protection; no 
watchfulness effectual when thy holy vigilance is 
not our guard ; for no sooner are we left to ourselves 
than the waves of corruption rush upon us, and we 
sink and perish ; but if thou reach forth thy omnip- 
otent hand, we walk t upon the sea and live. In 
our own nature we are unsettled as the sand upon 
the mountain, but in thee we have the stability of 
the throne in heaven. We are cold and insensible 
as darkness and death, but are kindled with light 
and life by the holy fire of thy love. — Thomas a 

Kempis. 

M 



170 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



SOME NOBLE LIVES. 

A LIFE OF FAITH. 

We are called Christians, and our name connects 
us with Christ. For our Christian life is one of 
faith. We are distinguished from the rest of men 
by believing Christ. We are marked by our faith. 
The object of that faith is the Lord Jesus, the Son 
of God. He was disclosed to us in the Word. The 
Holy Spirit fixed our attention on him, showed us 
our need of him as Savior, and in his own way led 
us to trust in him and be his. This distinguishes 
us from all who are living to themselves or to the 
devil. They may assign different reasons for their 
course of conduct when you take them to task. You 
inquire why they are not religious, which they are 
likely to interpret in reference to their acts, such as 
going to the church and receiving the communion. 
They will tell you, perhaps, they do not like the 
church, or the minister, or the pew, or the worship- 
ers — any thing but the simple fact that they do not 
wish for the inward power of religion. They do 
not desire to be what Christ would have them to be. 
Just as there are persons who do not choose to be 
under the oversight of a minister, to be missed from 
church, or to be warned or cautioned, and who in- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 171 

vent other reasons for their conduct, so there are 
unbelievers in Christ who offer reasons for their 
ways altogether wide of the truth. They are averse 
to the fellowship, to the law, to the authority of him 
whom we preach as a Savior from sin, but they 
will not say so in words. On the other hand, a 
godly life is a life of faith, beginning and running 
on through faith. The story of Benjamin West, the 
greatest artist America has yet produced, may well 
illustrate this truth. When a boy of seven, he was 
sitting by the cradle of an elder sister's infant, when 
the child smiled in its sleep. Charmed with its 
beauty, the boy got paper and made a portrait of it ; 
the kiss that acknowledged his effort inspired him 
to follow the bent of his taste. There were no 
models, no teachers. The simple Quaker people, 
of whom he was one, were on principle opposed to 
his art, though they gave way afterward, and through 
extraordinary difficulties he prosecuted his career, 
in Philadelphia, Rome, and London, till he was Pres- 
ident of the Royal Academy, and the painter of 
" Death on the Pale Horse." From the first to the 
last, the one prevailing taste urged him on. It was 
his life. So it is with the believer, from the time 
when the Redeemer wins his regard, attracts his 
confidence, and becomes the object of his faith. 
And how does Christ attract the soul ? As he 



172 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

attracted Paul's. Let the apostle tell it himself 
"Who loved me and gave himself for me." The 
manifested love of Christ wins the confidence of the 
heart. And what is the character of that love ? It 
is free ; unbought ; unsolicited ; saving ; self- deny- 
ing; it is love unto death, measured by the height 
of heaven, whence Christ came down, by the depth 
of sorrow and humiliation to which he descended — 
"Who loved me and gave himself for me." Meas- 
ure it ! Nay, it is immeasurable ; infinite ; everlast- 
ing. And it has, if possible, another charm. It is 
individual love. David was a true patriot, but in 
the nature of things every Hebrew could not be a 
Jonathan to him. But to the Redeemer of men 
every believer is as a brother, loved with an indi- 
vidualizing love — "Who loved me and gave him- 
self for me." When we look on the clear, starry 
sky, we are perplexed by the multitude of lights, 
and we can only single out and identify the brighter 
among them. But the astronomer will fix his glass 
on one far away in the silent depths, and watch 
it in its movements as if there was not another 
twinkling sister in all the sky. And so through 
all the ages, and all the millions of chosen saints 
— stars-to-be in heaven forever — the eye of the 
Redeemer, all -seeing, fixes its gaze on each as 
truly as if there were not another, and settles the 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 173 

plan of his life as if it were the sole object of his 
care. 

A LIFE "IN THE FLESH." 

Some one may pronounce such a life as I have 
described transcendental and impossible except in 
heaven. But it is a life " in the flesh ;" not in the 
bad sense, as opposed to life in the spirit, but in the 
good sense, as opposed to life in glory. Paul says 
the life which he lived " in the flesh" he lived " by 
the faith of the Son of God." 

Being a life in the flesh, it is subject to all the con- 
ditions of earthly life. Faith in Christ will not ex- 
empt from the pain that racks the body, nor from 
the sorrow that harrows the mind. It will not avert 
the temptation to evil, though it will help to resist 
it, and it will not ward off weariness, though it en- 
ables us to hold out when any other power would 
fail. It will not secure us against errors and mis- 
takes, though it makes us sorry for them, and sets 
us to repair them ; and it will not avert death, though 
it makes us more than conquerors over it. The 
earth is redeemed, but the thorns and the thistles 
still remain. The curse is lifted off the Lord's peo- 
ple, though they still toil uncertainly, and with labor 
and pain. But the thorns and thistles have been 
converted into benefits, and the toil and anxiety 



1U LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

turned into lesson-books in which God's children ac- 
quire the knowledge of sin, of themselves, and of 
God. How shall they know how evil and bitter 
transgression is if they feel not its temporal conse- 
quences ? These are shut out of heaven. Where 
shall they learn such graces as patience, submission, 
and contentment under privations if not on earth? 
Heaven has nothing to evoke or exercise these 
graces. Paul, therefore, who lives the life of faith, 
has his share of " tribulation," but he glories in it. 
He endures sufferings, but he rejoices in them. I 
can not but think that the Hebrew children, if they 
had any eyes for the fires, or for any thing but their 
Companion, might have looked with some pardon- 
able exultation on the flames that raged impotent 
around them. And so do the godly, when faith is 
in full vigor within, feel their advantage over the 
trials of this present time, as a general on the bat- 
tle-field when he takes and turns upon his foes their 
own guns. "For our light affliction, which is but 
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory." 

A LIFE OF SELF-DENYING EFFORT. 

But, as it is " a life in the flesh," the life of the 
godly must be a life of self-denial. There are ap- 
petites within us calling for indulgence. They must 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 175 

be held in check. There are tastes seeking grati- 
fication. They must be held in their place. There 
are passions ready to leap forth upon their respect- 
ive objects ; and, like appetites and tastes, they must 
be kept under the all-dominating sway of conscience. 
That conscience has authority from God. We may 
deny it the power, but, like a rightful sovereign de- 
throned, it has authority to utter its commands, 
though passions, like rebellious subjects, may be too 
powerful to be forced to obedience. Its court is 
set up by our Creator, and it makes and issues its 
decrees. We may refuse it executive power. It 
will, however, proceed to register its judgments; and 
the finally impenitent shall read them, if not here, 
in the light of the great white throne, and it may be 
through eternity. We must see that conscience be 
at once enlightened by the Word that its sentences 
be just, and that it be obeyed. 

This implies diligence in keeping the heart; watch- 
fulness against temptations ; resistance to evil ; and 
endurance in the struggle — all which are against 
our natural love of ease. But they are necessary. 
Many things impair the health though they are not 
fatal ; and a godly man would have the utmost vigor 
with which to serve God. He must sleep like the 
soldier who lies down with his weapons beside him 
on the battle-field to guard against a surprise. 



170 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

a Soldier, rest, but not for thee 

Spreads the world its downy pillow ; 
On the rock thy couch must be, 

While around thee chafes the billow. 
Thine must be a watchful sleep, 

Wearier than another's waking; 
Such a charge as thou dost keep 

Brooks no moment of forsaking." 

A LIFE OF DEPENDENCE. 

And on this account also is a godly life a life of 
dependence. A good man does not get a store of 
grace at his conversion to serve him all his life. He 
gets it daily, hourly. The children of God get the 
manna as they require it, that they may learn de- 
pendence on God. To live " from hand to mouth," 
as the proverb has it, in things temporal, is far from 
being prudent, but it is the only wise way in things 
spiritual. And this dependence is complete. We 
get holiness from the same saving grace that brings 
us forgiveness. An incident of the crucifixion is 
left on record, doubtless, to teach us this. A sol- 
dier pierced the Savior's side with his spear, and 
" forthwith came thereout blood and water." Both 
came from the wounded side. The atonement that 
brings pardon is attended by the water that puri- 
fies. " Both elements flow from the same heart of 
love, pierced by the spear of justice, and are poured 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 177 

out with the same design and for the same per- 
sons." 

A TRULY NOBLE LIFE. 

But let no one be repelled by the general aspect 
of this godly life ; for, after all, it employs the no- 
blest and best feelings of which our nature is ca- 
pable. It is a life of the loftiest style attainable by 
man. It carries us farthest away from the mean and 
the sordid. Look at its exercises. Hope smooths 
the brow, lightens the eye, and nerves the arm. 

" Auspicious Hope ! in whose sweet garden grow 
Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe." 

Hume was no sentimentalist ; he saw that " a pro- 
pensity to hope and joy is real riches ; to fear and 
sorrow, real poverty." Hope is the medicine of the 
miserable. 

" True hope is swift, and flies with swallows' wings, 
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings." 

So many have said of hope — their common earthly 
hope — of which, as Leighton says, they dare only 
say " dum spiro spero" (while I breathe I hope), 
but the children of God can say "dum expire spero" 
(while I die I hope). Hope, joy, gratitude, love, 
these are the feelings this life brings into play 



178 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

They are the highest we can exercise. If our 
hearts are to be opened and expanded ; if despond- 
ency is to be commanded away ; if selfishness is to 
die out within us, these are the very feelings to be 
employed for the purpose. Nor is there any thing 
tumultuous in their movements, for peace is diffused 
over all — such peace as filled the holy soul of Jesus 
Christ when making it his meat and drink to do his 
Father's will. Hence gentleness, goodness, meek- 
ness come into play, to complete the harmony of 
the character, and to render the child of God Christ- 
like. Is there any thing mean or sordid about these 
feelings? We pity the desponding; we shun the 
coarse and rude ; we despise the selfish and the en- 
vious ; we fear the vindictive and the malicious; 
we shrink from the heartless and unloving ; but wc 
cling to the joyous and hopeful, the generous and 
grateful. We admire the unselfish ; we are drawn 
to the meek, patient, and gentle ; we love the lov- 
ing. We can not have any goodness in ourselves 
without feeling the power and owning the worth of 
these qualities ; but these are just the qualities in 
which this life consists. You may have thought, 
dear readers, that if you set yourselves to be godly 
people, you must become machines rather than men, 
dull, depressed drudges, working out your slave's- 
task of duty without one element of what your heart 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 179 

feels to be " life," until you get into heaven, and be° 
come, through what change I know not, capable of 
enjoying what your nature here counts misery. It 
is a hateful lie. Every thing that belongs to real 
life is in the godly here, and if it were not in them 
here, what room is there for its production hereaft- 
er ? Does death regenerate ? Does the stroke that 
lays low the body alter the nature of the soul ? No. 
Death can but set the seal of changelessness on the 
character it finds in us. If we be living a life on 
earth " by the faith of the Son of God," death can 
but draw aside the curtain of flesh, and let the light 
from his immediate glory fall on our naked souls, 
to make clear and perfect that image of himself 
which only showed in broken lines while he ap- 
peared dimly to our hardly unbelieving hearts. In 
the warmth and security of heaven, the elements of 
our life, that were like stunted shrubs growing in 
uncongenial soil, expand into the perfection of their 
nature ; but these elements must be in us here, or 
they shall never be matured hereafter. — John Hall, 



Grace teaches us, in the midst of life's greatest 
comforts, to be willing to die, and in the midst of its 
greatest crosses to be willing to live. — Matthew 
Henry. 



180 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



FEELINGS CHANGEFUL. 
The variableness of Christian moods is often a 
matter of great and unnecessary suffering; but 
Christian life does not follow the changes of feeling. 
Our feelings are but the torch, and our life is the 
man that carries it. The wind that flares the flame 
does not make the man waver. The flame may 
sway hither and thither, but he holds his course 
straight on. Thus oftentimes it is that our Chris- 
tian hopes are carried as one carries a lighted can- 
dle through the windy street, that seems never to be 
so nearly blown out as when we step through the 
open door, and in a moment are safe within. Our 
wind-blown feelings rise and fall through all our life, 
and the draught of death threatens quite to extin- 
guish them ; but one moment more, and they shall 
rise and forever shine serenely in the unstormed air 
of heaven. — H. W. Beecher. 



WAITING TIMES. 
Waiting times are times when God is pleased to 
give his people some sweet tastes of his love, and 
to lift up the light of his countenance upon them. — 
Thomas Brooks. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 181 



THE RETURNING WANDERER. 

Weaky of wandering from my God, 
And now made willing to return, 

I hear, and bow me to the rod ; 

For Him, not without hope, I mourn ; 

I have an Advocate above, 

A friend before the throne of Love. 

O Jesu, full of pardoning grace, 
More full of grace than I of sin, 

Yet once again I seek Thy face ; 
Open Thine arms and take me in, 

And freely my backslidings heal, 

And love the faithless sinner still. 

Thou know'st the way to bring me back, 

My fallen spirit to restore ; 
O, for Thy truth and mercy's sake, 

Forgive, and bid me sin no more ! 
The ruins of my soul repair, 
And make my heart an house of prayer. 

The stone to flesh again convert, 
The veil of sin once more remove ; 

Drop Thy warm blood upon my heart, 
And melt it with Thy dying love : 

This rebel heart by love subdue, 

And make it soft, and make it new. 



182 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Give to mine eyes refreshing tears ? 

And kindle my relentings now ; 
Fill all my soul with filial fears, 

To the sweet yoke my spirits bow ; 
Bend by Thy grace — oh bend, or break 
The iron sinew in my neck. 

Ah ! give me, Lord, the tender heart, 
That trembles at th' approach of sin ; 

A godly fear of sin impart, 

Implant, and root it deep within ; 

That I may dread Thy gracious power, 

And never dare offend Thee more. 

Chaeles Wesley. 



THE SAINTS DELIGHT IN G OD. 

In what transports have holy souls been upon the 
view and contemplation of his sovereign power and 
dominion ; his wise and righteous government ; his 
large and flowing goodness, that extends in com- 
mon to all the works of his hands ! Labor to imi- 
tate the ingenuous and loyal affection of this kind, 
whereof you find' many expressions in the sacred 
volume. For what hath been master of delight to 
saints of old ought surely still as much to be ac- 
counted so. To give instances : 

You sometimes find them in a most complacen- 



LIGHT AT EVEN IN a TIME. 183 

tial adoration of his wonderful wisdom and coun- 
sels. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wis- 
dom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable 
are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 
(Rom. xi., 33.) And again : To God only wise, be 
glory, through Jesus Christ, forever, Amen (Rom. 
xvi., 27). To the king eternal, immortal, invisible, 
the only wise God, be honor and glory forever (1 
Tim. i., 17), etc. To the only wise God our Savior 
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now 
and ever (Jude 25, etc.). Elsewhere we have them 
in transports admiring his holiness. Who is like 
unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ! Who is like 
thee, glorious in holiness ! (Exod. xv., 11.) There 
is none holy as the Lord ; for there is none besides 
thee, neither is there any rock like our God (1 
Sam. ii., 2). And this is recommended and enjoin- 
ed to his holy ones as the special matter of their 
joy and praise : Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, 
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness 
(Psalm xcvii., 12). At other times we have their 
magnificent celebrations of his glorious power, and 
that by way of triumph over the paganish gods : Our 
God is in the heavens : he hath done whatsoever he 
pleased (Psalm cxv., 3). Their idols are silver and 
gold, etc. Be thou exalted, O God, in thine own 
strength (Psalm xxi., 13). We will sing and praise 



184 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

thy power. Forsake me not until I have showed 
thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to 
every one that is to come (Psalm lxxi., 18). This 
is given out as the song of Moses and the Lamb : 
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy 
name ? Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord 
God Almighty, etc. And how do they magnify his 
mercy and goodness, both toward his own people 
and his creatures in general (Psalm xxxi., 19). Oh 
how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up 
for them that fear thee ; which thou hast wrought for 
them that trust in thee before the children of men ! 
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is 
comely for the upright ; praise the Lord with harp ; 
sing unto him with the psaltery (Psalm xxxiii., 1, 
etc.). The earth is full of the goodness of the 
Lord. I will extol thee, my God, oh King ; I will 
bless thy name for ever and ever (Psalm cxlv., 1, 
etc.). Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible 
acts ; they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy 
great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. 
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow 
to anger, and of great mercy. - The Lord is good to 
all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. 
To insert all that might be mentioned to this pur- 
pose were to transcribe a great part of the Bible. 
And in what raptures do we often find them in the 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 185 

contemplation of his faithfulness and truth ; his jus- 
tice and righteousness ; his eternity ; the boundless- 
ness of his presence ; the greatness of his works ; 
the extensiveness of his dominion ; the perpetuity 
of his kingdom; the exactness of his government. 
Who is a strong God like unto thee, and to thy 
faithfulness round about thee ? (Psalm lxix.) Thy 
mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and thy faithful- 
ness reaches unto the clouds (Psalm xxxvi.). Be- 
fore the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou 
hadst formed the earth or the world, from everlast- 
ing to everlasting thou art God (Psalm xc, 2). 
But will God indeed dwell on the earth ? Behold, 
the heaven and heaven of heavens can not contain 
thee (1 Kings viii.), The works of the Lord are 
great, sought out of them that have pleasure there- 
in. His work is honorable and glorious (Psalm cxi., 
etc.). All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and 
thy saints shall bless thee ; they shall speak of the 
glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power, to make 
known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the 
glorious majesty of his kingdom (Psalm cxlv.). 
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy 
dominion endureth throughout all generations. 

And his glory in the general (which results from 
his several excellences in conjunction), how loftily 

is it often celebrated with the expression of the most 

N 



186 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

loyal desires, that it may be every where renowned, 
and of greatest complacency, in as far as it is appre- 
hended so to be. The glory of the Lord shall en- 
dure forever. They shall sing in the ways of the 
Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Be thou 
exalted above the heavens : let thy glory be above 
all the earth (Psalm civ., 31 ; cxxxviii., 5; Ivii., 7, 11). 
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name 
alone is excellent ; his glory is above the earth and 
the heavens (Psalm cxlviii., 13). When you read 
such passages as these (whether they be elegies 
or commendations of him, or doxologies and direct 
attributions of glory to him), you are to bethink 
yourselves with what temper of heart these things 
were uttered ; with how raised and exalted a spir- 
it; what high delight and pleasure was conceived 
in glorifying God, or in beholding him glorious. 
How large and unbounded a heart, and how full of 
his praise, doth still every where discover itself in 
such strains ; when all nations, when all creatures — 
when every thing that hath breath—when heaven and 
earth are invited together to join in the concert and 
bear a part in his praises ! — John Howe. 




: 






ffiKTo WHEJLMM JTA1T. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 187 



THE SICKNESS AND DEATH OF EZISHA. 

2 Kings xiii., 14. 

Elijah was spared the common doom of mortal- 
ity, and was taken to heaven in a chariot and horses 
of fire, without dying. But Elisha, who had honored 
God so much longer, goes the way of all the earth. 
Why was this difference ? Even so, Father ; for 
so it seemed good in thy sight. But he does not 
die of natural infirmity ; neither does he die sudden- 
ly — he had fallen sick. This mode of dissolution 
was less desirable with regard to comfort, but it was 
more favorable to usefulness. It afforded him op- 
portunity for glorifying God, and instructing and 
impressing his attendants. And " the chamber 
where the good man meets his fate" has often been 
to others, as well as to the dying individual himself, 
the house of God, and the gate of heaven. — Wil- 
liam Jay. 



TO VERTY IN OLD A GE 

When Mr. Wilberforce had lost his fortune and 
was in reduced circumstances — his confidence was 
still in God — he said, " He will not suffer me to be 
disgraced in my old age. What gives me support 



188 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

in all things is the thought of their being his ap- 
pointment. I doubt not that the same God who 
has in mercy ordered so many events for so long a 
course of time, will never fail to overrule all things 
both for my family and myself." And on recover- 
ing from a temporary illness, " I can scarce under- 
stand," he said, " why my life is spared so long ex- 
cept it be to show that a man can be as happy with- 
out a fortune as with one ;" and then soon after, 
when his only surviving daughter died, he writes, 
" I have often heard that sailors on a voyage will 
drink ' Friends a-stern' till they are half way over, 
then 'Friends a-head.' With me it has been 'Friends 
a-head' this long time." 



THE BELIEVERS SUFFICIENCY. 

" Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, 
and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not. I have 
redeemed thee ; I have called thee by thy name." 

What a beautiful thought that is. f Just get the 
meaning and beauty out of it. How many thou- 
sands of believers, thousands and thousands of be- 
lievers, have there been in the world from the be- 
ginning of its history until now — thousands in the 
patriarchal ages who looked through the glass, and 
who saw dimly the streak of the morning in the dis- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 189 

tance, and even with that streak of light were glad 
— thousands in the prophetical times who discov- 
ered it in the brightness of a nearer vision — thou- 
sands who basked in its full -orbed lustre when 
Christ came into the world — thousands upon thou- 
sands since that time who have washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb — 
thousands who are now upon the earth working out 
their salvation with fear and trembling — thousands 
upon thousands that shall come into the Church in 
the time of its millennial glory, when the gates of it 
shall not be shut day nor night, because the porter 
shall have no chance of shutting them, the people 
crowd in so fast. Now get all that mass of believ- 
ers, past, present, and future, a company that no man 
can number, and to each of them God comes in this 
promise, and says, " I have called thee by thy name ; 
I know all about thee" — that is, I have not a merely 
vague, indefinite knowledge of thee. As an indi- 
vidual believer, I know thy name ; I could single 
thee out of millions ; I could tell the world all thy 
solicitudes, and all thy apprehensions, and all thy 
hopes, and all thy sorrows. " I have called thee by 
thy name." Oh, precious promise ! Take it to your 
hearts. " I have called thee by thy name ; thou art 
mine. When thou passest through the waters I 
will be with thee, and through the rivers" — deep- 



190 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

er than the waters — they shall not overflow thee, 
"When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt 
not be burned, neither shall the flames kindle upon 
thee." — W. M. Punshon. 



ENTERING INTO BEST. 

And while the soul shall pass to God, to enter on 
the rest of glory, the mortal body has its rest no 
less, sleeping peacefully till the resurrection day. 
And when the green grass of another June waves 
over us ; when the soft summer wind of another 
June sighs through the green leaves ; when the sun- 
shine cfsomc more genial longest day shall bright- 
en cheerfully the stone which shall bear our name 
and yours, what better can we wish than that, if we 
leave behind us those who may sometimes visit the 
quiet spot, they may be able to say, humbly and 
hopefully, " Surely here at last, and surely there in 
a better place, the weary heart and hand are still ; 
yea, surely God hath given his beloved sleep ?" — 
Madame de Gasparin. 



Grace tried is better than grace, as it is more 
than grace — it is glory in its infancy. — Samuel 
Rutherford. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 191 



THE TROUBLES OF LIFE. 

Sometimes I compare the troubles which we have 
to undergo in the course of the year to a great bun- 
dle of fagots, far too great for us to lift; but God 
does not require us to carry the whole at once. He 
mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first one 
stick, which we are to carry to-day, and then anoth- 
er, which we are to carry to-morrow, and so on. 
This we might easily manage if we would only 
take the burden appointed for us each day ; but we 
choose to increase our troubles by carrying yester- 
day's stick over again to-day, and adding to-mor- 
row's burden to our load before we are required to 
bear it. — John Newton. 



PATIENT WAITING. 

" Patience, poor soul ! the Savior's feet were worn ; 
The Savior's heart and hands were weary too ; 
His garments stained, and travel- worn, and old ; 

His vision blinded with a pitying dew. 
Love thou the paths of sorrow that he trod ; 
Toil on, and wait in patience for thy rest ; 
Oh ! city of onr God, we soon shall see 

Thy glorious walls — home of the loved and bless'd. 7 * 

Anon. 



192 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THROUGH DARKNESS TO LIGHT. 

.... It dwelt on her mind that for some defi- 
ciency in her Christian character this chastisement 
had been appointed. The language of her contrite 
prayer was, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" 
And he told her ; and she became a mother in Israel ; 
a sleepless, untiring benevolence was the striking 
lineaments of her life. After the stroke of widow- 
hood fell upon her, and she stood entirely alone, it 
seemed as if every vestige of selfishness was ex- 
tinct, and that her whole existence was devoted to 
the good of others. — Anon. 



PERSONAL GOODNESS. 
It is common enough to confound religion with 
a series of religious acts. A man's prayers are of- 
fered with regularity ; his place in God's house is 
never vacant ; his donation is never wanting when 
there is a call upon him ; he goes regularly to " the 
communion." But these religious acts are only the 
stones in the river of his life, which flows through 
them and over them, but is not of them. Hard, dis- 
tinct, and, in part, of another nature from his life, 
they are interruptions of the current of his being 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 193 

rather than a help to it or a part of it. Religion of 
the true and genuine kind, on the other hand, is the 
water of the river. It has entered into the man's 
being. It has penetrated his heart, and guided his 
affections. It has reached his will, and touched its 
springs. It has moulded his tastes, and bridled his 
appetites. It has helped to form his plans, and col- 
ored his being. His love to God has become as 
truly a part of his being as his love to wife or child. 
He is not doing religion — he is religious. " The 
Word and the sacraments," says Henry Smith, the 
Puritan, " are the two breasts from which our moth- 
er church nurses her children." But the dead child 
can not be nursed. It is the living that feed on the 
Word and sacraments. They only can say, " The 
life I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son 
of God." Then let us look at the " religious' (as 
the monk is called), who has given himself up to 
the service of God. His garments are only for wor- 
ship. His work is to pray and praise. He is a 
dweller in the courts of God's house. He is de- 
voted to " religion." Is all right with him ? Not 
necessarily. His seclusion, that shuts him out from 
men, may not shut him up to God. He may be in 
"religion," but not in Christ. He may put on the 
monk's hood, and not put on the wedding garment. 
Religion is not only life — it is an inward life 



1 94 LIGHT AT E VENING TIME. 

There may be an unbroken profession of godliness 
as credible as that of Judas, in whose cloak of" cov- 
etousness" there was not a rent. The sheep's cloth- 
ing may fit so exactly that not a suspicion shall be 
raised; but "the kingdom of God is within you," 
and if it be not there the forms of godliness are 
forms only. — John Hall. 



DIFFICULTIES SOLVED. ' 
Some one said to Copernicus, "If the world were 
constituted as you say, Venus would have phases 
like the moon ; she has none, however. What have 
you to say to that ?" Copernicus answered, " I have 
no reply to give, but God will be so good as that an 
answer to this difficulty will be found." In fact, 
God was so good that Galileo invented the tele- 
scope with which these phases of Venus were dis- 
covered ; but Copernicus was dead. God will be 
so good that we shall see the prodigies of his pow- 
er ; but we shall then be living an eternal life, and 
shall only wonder at one thing — our own former dif- 
ficulties, when we could depend upon the great God 
of heaven for their solution. — Madame de Gasparin. 



-But Patience was willing to wait. — J. Bunyan. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 195 



8 A VED B Y GRA CE. 

Mr. M'Laren and Mr. Gustart were both minis- 
ters of the Tolbooth Church, Edinburg. When Mr. 
M'Laren was dying, Mr. Gustart paid him a visit, 
and put the question to him, " What are you doing, 
brother ?" His answer was, " I'll tell you what I 
am doing, brother. I am gathering together all my 
prayers, all my sermons, all my good deeds, all my 
ill deeds, end I am going to swim to glory on the 
plank of Free Grace." — J. Whitecross. 



WORDS OF CHEER. 
Drooping art thou in the service 

Of thy loved and loving Lord ? 
Do thy hands, thy feet, oft falter ? 

Listen to this cheering word : 

To the faint God giveth power, 
To the weak increaseth strength ; 

And they that wait on him shall mount 
Up on eagles' wings at length. 

They shall run and not be weary, 
They shall walk and shall not faint : 

Such the promise of thy Father, 
" Weary, yet pursuing" saint. 



196 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



TRIAL OF THE WORLDLY CHRISTIAN 

It is a painful work, that weeding work. " Every 
branch in me that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that 
it may bring forth more fruit." The keen edge of 
God's pruning-knife cuts sheer through. No weak 
tenderness stops him whose love seeks goodness, 
not comfort, for his servants. A man's distractions 
are in his wealth, and perhaps fire or failure make 
him bankrupt. What he feels is God's sharp knife. 
Pleasures have dissipated his heart, and a strick- 
en frame forbids his enjoying pleasure. Shattered 
nerves and broken health wear out the life of life. 
Or perhaps it comes in a sharper, sadder form — the 
shaft of death goes home ; there is heard the wail 
of danger in his household ; and then, when sick- 
ness has passed on to hopelessness, and hopeless- 
ness has passed on to death, the crushed man goes 
into the chamber of the dead, and there, when he 
shuts down the lid upon the coffin of his wife or the 
coffin of his child, his heart begins to tell him the 
meaning of all this. Thorns had been growing in 
his heart, and the sharp knife has been at work 
making room, but by an awful desolation, tearing 
up and cutting down, that the Life of God in the 
soul may not be choked. — F. W. Robertson. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 197 



FINISH THY WORK 

Finish thy work, the time is short — 

The sun is in the west, 
The night is coming down — till then, 

Think not of rest. 

Yes, finish all thy work, then rest ; 

Till then, rest never: 
The rest prepared for thee above 

Is rest forever. 

Finish thy work, then wipe thy brow ; 

Ungird thee from thy toil ; 
Take breath, and from each weary limb 

Shake off the soil. 

Finish thy work, then sit thee down 

On some celestial hill, 
And of its strength-reviving air 

Take thou thy fill. 

Finish thy work, then go in peace ; 

Life's battle fought and won, 
Hear from the throne the Master's voice ? 

"Well done! well done!" 

Finish thy work, then take thy harp, 

Give praise to God above; 
Sing a new song of endless joy 

And everlasting love. 



198 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Give thanks to Him who held thee up 

In all thy path below ; 
Who made thee faithful unto death, 

And crowns thee now ! — Anon. 



EVIL EFFECTS OF UNBELIEF. 

Why are ye so fearful, and how is it that ye have no 
faith ? — Mark iv., 40. 

The less faith, still the more fear. Fear is gen- 
erated by unbelief and unbelief strengthened by fear. 
As in nature there is an observable circular gen- 
eration, vapors beget showers, and showers new va- 
pors, so it is in things moral, and therefore all the 
skill in the world can never cure us of the disease 
of fear till God first cures us of our unbelief. Christ 
therefore took the right method to rid his disciples 
of their fear by rebuking their unbelief. The re- 
mains of this sin in God's own people are the cause 
and fountain of their fears. — John Flavel. 



HAPPY OLD AGE. 

Nothing so smooths out wrinkles from the brow 

as a sound Christian experience. When the heart 

is full of peace, the face is apt to be full of smiles. 

The countenance, as a faithful index of the soul, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 199 

can not do otherwise than manifest the joy which 
reigns within. The best way to make a good face 
is to cultivate a good heart. It is one of the com- 
pensations for the decay of nature, that age can de- 
rive a serenity and lustre from the radiant spirit of 
piety which renders it so attractive as to forbid all 
thought of diminished power and every feeling of 
repulsion. "Every thing is beautiful in its time. 
If the glory of young men is their strength, the 
beauty of old men is the gray head." " The gray 
head is a crown of glory w r hen it is found in the 
way of righteousness." All things young and ten- 
der draw by their sweetness and promise — inno- 
cence is associated with them, and there is a charm 
in original freshness for the hardest nature ; hence, 
all men delight in young children and young ani- 
mals ; but equally, age which is ripened by large 
and healthful experiences, mellowed by happy and 
generous views of God and humanity, is an object 
of universal recognition and pleasure. The happy 
old man is never envied or hated, but always con- 
gratulated and loved. Having passed the rivalries 
and strifes of life, he usuallv receives the full meas- 
ure of consideration which is his due. 

I say the happy aged man is never envied; yet 
truly, if any man's state is to be coveted, it is his. 
" Better is the end of a thing than the beginning 



200 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

thereof." A journey safely ended, a work well fin- 
ished, a battle fought and the victory won : surely 
to end a life with a good conscience, to arrive at 
advanced years with a character unimpeached, a 
faith undimmed, and a spirit unbroken — this is a 
consummation of all others most to be desired. We 
look at a child, and while we are drawn toward its 
simplicity, and are impressed with its promise, yet a 
cold shudder creeps over us as we think of the pos- 
sibilities of evil which the little nature compresses 
within it. What an uncertain path it must tread ! 
To how many dangers it must be exposed ! So 
that, in the presence of the joy inspired by child- 
hood, there obtrudes the terrible misgiving as to its 
future and ultimate safety. But no such doubts 
come when we look into the calm eyes of the vet- 
eran Christian, whose habits of goodness have be- 
come so fixed as to make his final salvation almost 
if not wholly a moral certainty. We would think 
it a great privilege to see angels who have been in 
heaven. Angels are all about us. These aged 
saints of God, who, if they have not already been 
there, are quite as sure to be as if their feet had al- 
ready touched the pavements of gold, and the 
crowns of glory had already pressed their victorious 
brows. One of God's best gifts to his Church is, 
that he allows such to linger among his people in 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 201 

every community, whose names are household 
words, synonyms of piety, and whose presence is a 
holy fragrance in the congregation and in the home. 
If there is a peculiar satisfaction in contemplating 
age purified and gladdened by piety, there is an 
equally intense pain in looking at an old person 
who is destitute of the comforts of religion. It is 
bad enough when such a one, however amiable and 
thoughtful, is indifferent to spiritual truth : to see an 
aged man, whose days are few, insensible to its 
claims, is a sad sight; but to see him not only in- 
sensible, but wicked and frivolous, is both painful 
and pitiable. There is something so far removed 
from good sense, as well as good religion, for a per- 
son under the weight of years to attempt to cheat 
himself and every body else by assuming, in the very 
shadow of the grave, a light and trifling manner, 
that one scarcely knows how to restrain contempt. 
Respect for gray hairs and a sorrow which over- 
balances all other feelings alone check and hold it 
back. How such hate to grow old ! to what tricks 
do they resort to stave off the approach of decay ! 
They try to light a fire on the outside which should 
be lighted within. Their experience is, in many 
things, very pleasant, but it is not the experience 
which worketh hope — the Christian hope. The 
flowers of the heart lie withered in a dead past, 



202 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

which can never return : no buds of promise, look- 
ing out toward the sunlight of the sky, swell in their 
souls. The past is gone, and there is no future of 
immortal life to beckon the heart away. The eye 
catches no lustre from the radiance of heaven, the 
brightness of the adorable Lamb, and now is dim 
indeed, both from infirmity and despondency. While 
the aged believer is like the mariner who, as he 
nears the end of his voyage to the Spice Islands, is 
already regaled with the sweet odors of the clime 
he seeks, the aged irreligious man is as one sailing 
toward the frozen seas, with whom the chilly breath 
is felt long before the seas are reached. The cheer- 
lessness of an old man whose heart knows nothing 
of the warmth of divine love and Christian faith is 
indescribable. It is, however, a grateful thought, that 
through the hard crust of inveterate habits of im- 
piety, grace can and does often penetrate. The aged 
sinner need not despair, for even his wilted heart 
may revive with all the freshness of a spiritual joy, 
which is the foretaste and pledge of eternal bliss. — 
H. B. Ridgaway. 

I find it easier to go six miles to hear a sermon 
(said Philip Henry) than to spend one quarter of 
an hour in meditating and praying over it in secret 
after I come home. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 203 



" THE PATH OF THE JUST." 

Yes, the path of the just is as the shining light, 
shining more and more, brighter and brighter, unto 
the perfect day. It is imperfect now, and often 
stormy and cloudy ; but through the storm and the 
sunshine the path runs on. The beings toiling in 
it are not such beings in appearance as you would 
think destined to thrones of glory ; but they look 
rather like weather-beaten mariners, poor way-worn 
pilgrims, with garments worn and dusty ; but they 
are to be all presented without spot or wrinkle, or 
any such thing, before the throne of God, in his like- 
ness. They are to be all kings and priests. They 
are all to shine as the stars. Light, knowledge, sane- 
tification in all things in the Christian life, all in the 
progress to glory, are gradual and partial now, en- 
tire and perfect hereafter. Now we know in part, 
there shall we know even as we are known ; now 
we see as through a glass darkly, but then face to 
face. The process of growth and sanctification is 
going on now, mainly as a discipline of redemption 
from sin, deliverance from the carcass of the old 
man, purification from indwelling corruption ; so 
that, at present, there is more positive experience of 
sin and of the conflict with it, than of holiness and 



204 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

grace in triumph. Yet the work is going on through 
all fluctuations ; through providences afflictive oft- 
en, and seemingly adverse ; through temptations 
and the trial of faith working experience ; and ex- 
perience is gradually building up a hope that maketh 
not ashamed, and more and more the love of God 
is shed abroad, and all the affections gathered up to 
heaven. 

The dross may be continually rising to the sur- 
face now, and a great part of God's very discipline 
with us is to bring it out. When you put a lump 
of gold into the crucible there is no dross visible 
upon it, but there may be a great deal in it. A skill- 
ful goldsmith will tell you at once, on exposing it to 
some of his tests, that there is much alloy in it. 
You put it into the crucible to bring out that alloy, 
and the consequence is that the dross speedily be- 
comes more manifest than any thing else, which is 
the consequence of the very process of purification; 
and so God often detects and brings out the indwell- 
ing evils of his jewels; and the consequence of such 
a discipline for a season is just this, that, to them- 
selves, the children of God seem to be nothing but 
dross, for dross and not pure gold is the most mark- 
ed feature, and they seem to be doing any thing but 
growing in grace. And yet this is one of the very 
processes of growth. Mortification, self-abasement, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 205 

and humiliation now, leading to glory hereafter ; a 
toilsome and craggy way now, and sometimes wind- 
ing through places like the shadow of Death, but 
nevertheless rising, and, on the whole, growing 
brighter and brighter toward the perfect day. The 
dross, indeed, is rising to the surface now, but by- 
and-by there shall be a clean, pure, beautiful reflec- 
tion of the image of the Great Refiner. — George 
B. Cheever. 



CAST ALL YOUR CARE UPON CHRIST. 
"Cast all thy care!' " Nay," the rebel heart says, 
" there is some little of it I must bear myself; some- 
thing that has reference to the heart's bitterness, 
that it alone knoweth ; or to the heart's deep, dark 
sorrow, with which no stranger intermeddles, that I 
must bear myself." "Cast all thy care upon me, 
for I care for thee." What ! distrustful still ? Can 
you not take God at his word ? Hark ! he conde- 
scends to expostulate with you upon your unbelief 
" Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, 
my way is hid from the Lord ?" How often have 
you said that in the time of your sorrow — you know 
you have — " my way is hid from the Lord, my judg- 
ment is passed over from my God. Hast thou not 
known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, 



206 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, faint- 
eth not, neither is weary ? There is no searching 
of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, 
He does not merely take his swoon away and leave 
him weakly, he makes him strong. He giveth pow- 
er to the faint, and to them that have no might he 
increaseth strength." Are you still dissatisfied ? 

The God who knows human nature knows how 
much better a teacher's example is than precept, and 
so, sparkling upon the pages of his holy truth, he has 
left us many bright instances of his interposition on 
behalf of his saints. Abraham rises early in the 
morning, goes a three days' journey with the son of 
his love, intending all the while, with set and reso- 
lute purpose, to offer him in sacrifice to the God of 
heaven. Arrived at the place of their destination, 
all the ritual preparations are made : the altar is 
prepared; the willing victim, unresisting, is bound; 
the sacrificial knife is lifted ; no escape, then, surely! 
But man's extremity is God's opportunity, and the 
ram is caught in the thicket by its horns, and God's 
grace is sufficient — none too much — but sufficient 
still.— W. M. Punshon. 



Whatever our trials are, the strength of the con- 
flict lies between faith and unbelief. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 207 



THE OLD MAN. 

No desert without limits extends before the old 
man. He walks beside a river whose banks are 
seen to approach. A diminishing stream separates 
them each day less and less ; and on the opposite 
bank stand wife and son, with arms outstretched to 
meet him. — Madame de Gasparin. 



CBOSS-BEAHING. 

And he, bearing his cross, went forth. — John xix„, 1 7. 

Learn, then, brethren, that your heavenly Father 
sometimes sees good in the treatment of his spirit- 
ual children, as here in the treatment of the Only- 
begotten Son, to let great trials and great weak- 
nesses meet together ; to lay on crosses at those 
very moments when we appear most unfit to bear 
them ; to permit wave to follow wave in such 
quick and terrible succession that the eye of faith 
grows dim, and even the undying flame of a Chris- 
tian's lamp is flickering in the socket. If such a 
season ever visits you, remember there is One to 
whom even this case is no new case — One upon 
whom his cross was laid when he was weak even 



208 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

to faintness, and yet of whom we are told that, 
without one repining, one reproachful word, "he 
went forth bearing his cross." He can not, then, 
although now in heaven, ever forget that hour on 
earth, and never does he see a weak and fainting 
sufferer, upon whom fresh trials are accumulating 
and fresh crosses laid, without calling to mind that 
heavy cross and that toilsome journey up Mount 
Calvary, or without stretching forth a hand to help 
and succor him. How merciful is it of our heav- 
enly Father that there is not that sorrow in life — 
that peculiar state of trial — that bitterness of an- 
guish from which the believer can look upward to 
the throne of grace without beholding one beside 
that throne to whom that sorrow, trial, bitterness are 
all experimentally well-known! — Henry Blunt. 



BEFORE THE CBOSS. 

Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, 
Which before the cross I spend ; 

Life, and health, and peace possessing, 
From the sinner's dying Friend. 

Here I'll sifc, with transport viewing 
Mercy's streams, in streams of blood ; 

Precious drops, my sonl bedewing, 
Plead and claim my peace with God. 



LIGHT AT EVER IN G TIME. 209 

Truly blessed is the station,, 

Low before his cross to lie, 
While I see divine compassion 

Floating in His languid eye. 

Here it is I find my Heaven, 

While upon the Lamb I gaze. 
Love I much? I've much forgiven; 

I'm a miracle of grace. 

Love and grief my heart dividing, 

With my tears His feet I'll bathe ; 
Constant still in faith abiding, 

Life deriving from His death. 

May I still enjoy this feeling, 

In all need to Jesus go ; 
Prove His wounds each day more healing, 

And Himself more fully know. 

Thomas Batty. 



GOD HATH LED ME ALL THESE YEARS. 

When a Christian, towards the close of life, looks 
back upon his pilgrimage as a whole and in its 
parts, the only way in which he can describe it is 
that suggested by the words of Scripture, " God hath 
led me all these years.' 5 I see it now so plainly : 
how there has been a hand over me, the hand of a 
real and living person, giving this, and withholding 



210 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

that, both alike for good ; placing me perhaps where 
I would not, and then showing me that it had been 
well; not suffering me to forget, or else recalling 
me to recollection ; denying me, or else taking away 
from me something on which my heart was too 
much set, and then giving me something else which, 
because less desired, was safer ; chastening me 
when 1 fell away, and often by sharp and painful 
strokes bringing back to himself. Doubtless heav- 
en will be full of such remembrances of earthly life, 
each remembrance ending in the ascription of praise. 
And can not earth anticipate these recollections, 
these ascriptions of praise ? Yes, the youngest life 
has had some such experiences ; middle life has 
them in abundance ; oh how w r e forget God when 
we are in prosperity ! When life smiles on us, how 
do we think scorn, as it were, of the pleasant land 
beyond ; how do we provoke God by our murmur- 
iogs ; how do we dishonor him by setting our affec- 
tion on things below ! . . . When he slays us, we seek 
him, as it is written ; when he hides his face, we 
humble ourselves ; when he delivers us again, we 
sing his praise, but within a while we forget his 
works ; we live carelessly ; we scarcely pray ; we 
cleave to the dust of this world ; again the stroke 
falls ; again we repent ; again we amend ; alas ! 
again it is a short-lived effort : — and in many such 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 211 

backslidings, and a few such returns, life slips away ; 
the call comes, and is the door still open ? 

My brethren, God is leading you, offering at least 
to lead you, all your life long ; and oh the safety, the 
happiness — oh the deep peace of those who accept 
the offer ! Every morning let your prayer be, Lord, 

lead me If I stray, follow me into the desert 

and recall me. If I faint, carry me in thy bosom. 
When I walk at last through the valley of the 
shadow of death, be thou with me. Let thy good- 
ness and mercy follow me all the days of my life, 
and then let me dwell in thy house forever. — C. J. 
Vaughan. 



THE HOLY SPIRIT OUR G UIDE. 

The Holy Spirit of God is our guide. Who will 
displease his guide? — a sweet, comfortable guide, 
that leads us through the wilderness of this world. 
As the cloud before the Israelites by day, and the 
pillar of fire by night, so he conducts us to the heav- 
enly Canaan. If we grieve our guide, we cause 
him to leave us to ourselves. The Israelites would 
not go a step farther than God by his angel went 
before them. It is in vain for us to make toward 
heaven without our blessed Guide ; we can not do, 
nor speak, nor think any thing that is holy and good 



212 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

without him. Whatsoever is holy and pious, it 
grows not in our garden, in our , nature, but it is 
planted by the Spirit. 

There is nothing in the world so great and sweet 
a friend that will do us so much good as the Spirit 
if we give him entertainment. Indeed, he must rule ; 
he will have the keys delivered him ; we must sub- 
mit to his government. And when he is in the 
heart, he will subdue by little and little all high 
thoughts, rebellious risings, and despairing fears. 
This shall be our happiness in heaven, when we 
shall be wholly spiritual^ that God shall he all in 
all. We shall be perfectly obedient to the Spirit in 
our understandings, wills, and affections. The Spir- 
it will then dwell largely in us, and will make the 
room where he dwelleth sweet, and lightsome, and 
free, subduing whatsoever is contrary, and bring full- 
ness of peace, and joy, and comfort. 

And, in the mean time, in what condition we are, 
we shall have suitable help from the Spirit. We 
are partly flesh and partly spirit. God is not all 
and in all ; the flesh hath a part in us ; we are often 
in afflictions and under clouds. Let us, therefore, 
prize our fellowship with the Spirit. For are we in 
darkness ? he is a Spirit of light. Are we in dead- 
ness of spirit ? he is a Spirit of life. Are we in a 
disconsolate estate ? he is a Spirit of consolation. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 213 

Are we in perplexity, and know not what to do ? 
he is a Spirit of wisdom. Are we troubled with 
corruptions ? he is a sanctifying, a subduing, a mor- 
tifying Spirit. In what condition soever we are, he 
will never leave us till he has raised us from the 
grave, and taken full possession of body and soul in 
heaven. He will prove a comforter when neither 
friends, nor riches, nor any thing in the world can 
comfort us. How careful should we be to give con- 
tentment to this sweet Spirit of God ! 

No Christian is so happy as the watchful Chris- 
tian — that is, careful of his duty, and to preserve his 
communion with the Holy Spirit of God, for by en- 
tertaining him, he is sure to have communion with 
the Father and the Son. It is the happiest condi- 
tion in the world when the soul is the temple of the 
Holy Spirit — when the heart is as the holy of ho- 
lies — where there be prayers and praises offered 
to God. The soul is, as it were, a holy ark, the 
memory like the pot of manna, preserving heavenly 
truths. It is a heavenly condition ; a man prospers 
to heavenward when the Spirit of God is with him. 
You know Obed-Edom, when the ark was in his 
house, all thrived with him ; so, while the Spirit and 
his motions are entertained by us, we shall be hap- 
py in life, happy in death, happy to eternity. — Rich- 
ard Sibbes. 



214 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 

Mature age is a hill from which one may look 
in opposite directions — backward and forward. It 
is a kindly arrangement of Providence by which the 
aged are not only inclined to look backward to ear- 
ly life, but the scenes of childhood and youth are 
made unusually distinct. When the faculties are so 
much impaired or clouded that memory loses the im- 
pression of recent events, the scenes of early life are 
recalled and retained with wonderful freshness and 
vividness. Persons who could not retain in mind 
what they had seen or heard five minutes before, 
can repeat with accuracy whole pages of hymns, 
the odes of Horace, Cowper's poems, which they 
committed to memory when they were boys. That 
which is intrusted to memory in childhood is like 
the casting of plaster when it is fresh and liquid ; it 
sets, and every line and edge h permanently pre- 
served. If the young did but know it, what they 
are saying, and thinking, and reading, and doing is 
fresco-painting, the colors striking through the fresh 
mortar, and hardening into permanent forms by the 
progress of time. The review of life by the aged 
gives a peculiar pleasure. The little annoyances 
which were felt day by day in earlier life drop out 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 215 

of view. Children have their own griefs and trials. 
These are largely forgotten as time goes on, and 
the pleasant things of childhood remain like a bright 
picture before the dim eye of the aged. The first 
home, father and mother, the fireside and the barn, 
the brook and the meadow, school and vacation, the 
trees, the birds and the animals, the seasons, spring, 
summer, autumn, and winter, how clear and distinct 
they are ! It is as if they were all back again, and 
this to relieve the burdens, cheer the loneliness, and 
comfort the infirmities of age. How much of thank- 
fulness is diffused through the heart by these pleas- 
ant memories of early life ! By means of them, age 
is often toned down into ineffable sweetness, so that 
not unfrequently old men and little children are the 
closest and happiest companions. 

Some things there are in the review of every life 
which are to be regretted. Happy is he who recalls 
but few of them associated with remorse. This is 
the sharpness of that remorse — the acts by which it 
is excited can not be changed or obliterated. The 
unkind word, the undutiful act toward an affectionate 
parent ! Would that this parent were now alive, to 
be soothed by our confession and augmented tender- 
ness. But now the wrong which we did stands like 
an oak or a rock, against which we brace ourselves, 
and strain, only to become conscious of our inabil- 



216 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

ity to move it. Nothing crumbles — nothing can be 
removed from the honest past. It stands. As we 
look at it, what occasion have we to make use of 
the prayer which inspiration has made ready for us, 
" Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my trans- 
gressions ; according to thy mercy, remember thou 
me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord !" (Psalm xxv., 7.) 
So much of imagination mingles with all anticipa- 
tions of the young that one is apt to be deceived in 
regard to his probable character and conduct; the 
past is simple, real fact, and so much of defect and 
unworthiness are associated with it all, that an hon- 
est mind must feel its need of divine forgiveness, 
resting more and more implicitly on the abounding 
grace of Jesus Christ. 

Threescore years and ten ! In prospect how re- 
mote ! in retrospect how brief! How long appears 
the journey when setting out ! how short when it 
has been accomplished ! 

" Time in advance behind him hides his wings, 
And seems to creep decrepit with his age. 
Behold him when passed by : what then is seen 
But his broad pinions, swifter than the wind." 

Each day has two twilights, that of the morning 
and that of the evening. The * latter darkens into 
night, the former brightens into day. "The way 
of the wicked is as darkness ; they know not at 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 217 

what they stumble. But the path of the just is as 
the shining light, that shineth more and more unto 
the perfect day." Here is a phenomenon which can 
be explained only by the comforts and promises of 
the Gospel of Christ. Cicero wrote a treatise on 
old age which has come down into our hands. It 
contains much — we might say all of the wisdom of 
the world. The utmost which it pretends to teach 
is how to grow old, and be old, with somewhat of 
resignation and gracefulness. The Gospel of our 
Redeemer, bringing life and immortality to light, 
teaches man how to advance in life, and terminate 
life with cheerfulness, gladness, and joy. It contin- 
ually presents, what nothing else ever did or can, 
the sure method by which one may always, even to 
the very last day of life, be confident that the best 
part of existence is yet to come. It supplies man 
with what is better than all memory, even with an 
unfailing object of hope. Bright and pleasant was 
life's morning. Gratitude is enkindled by recalling 
all that was so happy in childhood and youth. But 
faith assures us that our greatest happiness is not 
receding, but approaching. Thanks for the way in 
which God has led us thus far ; but, turning to that 
which is before us, what is it ? Gloom, fear, noth- 
ingness ? Oh no. We have a sure word of the 

Lord, which reveals and promises what is perma- 

P 



218 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

nent, blessed, and divine. True life is before us, not 
behind us. Our best and happiest youth is yet to 
come. God has promised his adopted children per- 
petual rejuvenescence. " The outward man perish- 
eth, but the inward man is renewed day by day." 
How often is this realized in the experience of Chris- 
tian believers ! When the eye has lost its lustre, and 
the ear its quickness — when the frame is bowed, and 
the silvered head droops, peace becomes like a river, 
and joy as the waves of the sea. " They that wait 
upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall 
mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and 
not be weary ; they shall walk and not faint." 

Those far advanced in life are in danger of re- 
garding themselves as useless in the world, because 
incapable of active service after the manner of youn- 
ger life, Many are saddened by the mistaken 
thought that they are cumbering the ground. The 
contrary is true decidedly, emphatically, of the aged 
found in the way of righteousness. The simple, 
quiet, trustful continuance of such is a public bene- 
fit. The hoary head, with its glory of true Chris- 
tian faith, is a testimony in honor of religion which 
can never be gainsaid or silenced. At no time is 
passive goodness so potent. It is, indeed, light at 
eventide. It is a proof of our faith when one who 
is bereft of all which the world esteems, like a tree 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 219 

stripped of its foliage, can in his old age look for- 
ward with comfort and cheerfulness to that better 
life which is promised by his divine and faithful Re- 
deemer. Talk of the beauty of childhood ! — it is of 
its own kind. But there is another beauty — old 
age, leaning happily on Christ, and looking forward, 
without fear, without gloom, without doubt, to that 
glory which is yet to be revealed. — William 
Adams. 



THE OCCUPATION FOE THE LAST HOURS OF LIFE. 

I have had large experience of both joy and sor- 
row. I have seen the nakedness and the empti- 
ness, and I have seen the beauty and sweetness of 
life. What I have to say now, let me say to Jesus. 
What time and strength I used to spend in writing, 
let me now spend in praying for all men, for all suf 1 
ferers, for all who are out of the way, for all whom 
I love ; and their name is legion, for I love every 
body. 

Yes, I love every body ! That crowning joy has 
come to me at last. Christ is in my soul; he is 
mine ; I am as conscious of it as that my husband 
and children are mine ; and his Spirit flows forth 
from mine in the calm peace of a river, whose banks 
are green with grass, and glad with flowers. If I 



220 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

die, it will be to leave a wearied and worn body, 
and a sinful soul, to go joyfully to be with Christ, 
to weary and to sin no more. If I live, I shall find 
much blessed work to do for him. So, living or dy- 
ing, I shall be the Lord's. 

But I wish, oh ! how earnestly, that, whether I go 
or stay, I could inspire some lives with the joy that 
is now mine. For many years I have been rich in 
faith — rich in an unfaltering confidence that I was 
beloved of my God and Savior. But something 
was wanting. I was ever groping for a mysterious 
grace, the want of which made me often sorrowful 
in the very midst of my most sacred joy — imperfect 
when I most longed for perfection. It was that 
personal love to Christ, of which my precious 
mother so often spoke to me, which she often urged 
me to seek upon my knees. If I had known then, 
as I now know, what this priceless treasure could 
be to a sinful human soul, I would have sold all that 
I had to buy the field wherein it lay hidden. But 
not till I was shut up to prayer and to the study of 
God's Word by the loss of earthly joys, sickness 
destroying the flavor of them all, did I begin to 
penetrate the mystery that is learned under the 
Cross. And, wondrous as it is, how simple is this 
mystery ! To love Christ, and to know that I love 
him — this is all! — Mrs. E. Prentiss, " Stepping 
Heavenward," 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 221 



HAPPINESS OF THE LIFE TO COME. 

What are these things, the false glare and shad- 
ows whereof in this earth are pursued with such 
keen and furious impetuosity — riches, honors, pleas- 
ures ? All these, in their justest, purest, and sub- 
limest sense, are comprehended in this blessed life. 
It is a treasure that can neither fail nor be carried 
away by force or fraud. It is an inheritance uncor- 
rupted and undefiled ; a crown that fadeth not away ; 
a never-failing stream of joy and delight. It is a 
marriage feast, and, of all others, the most joyous 
and most sumptuous ; one that always satisfies, and 
never cloys the appetite. It is an eternal spring 
and an everlasting light ; a day without an evening. 
It is a paradise, where the lilies are always white 
and in full bloom, the saffron blooming, the trees 
sweat out their balsams, and the tree of life in the 
midst thereof. It is a city where the houses are 
built of living pearls, the gates of precious stones, 
and the streets paved with the purest gold. 

Yet all these are nothing but veils of the happi- 
ness to be revealed on that most blessed day ; nay, 
the light itself, which we have mentioned among 
the rest, though it be the most beautiful ornament in 
this visible world, is at best but a shadow of that 



222 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

heavenly glory; and how small soever that portion 
of this inaccessible brightness may be, which, in the 
sacred Scriptures, shines upon us through these 
veils, it certainly very well deserves that we should 
often turn our eyes toward it, and view it with the 
closest attention. 

Now the first thing that necessarily occurs in the 
constitution of happiness is a full and complete de- 
liverance from every evil and every grievance, which 
we may as certainly expect to meet with in that heav- 
enly life, as it is impossible to be attained while we 
sojourn here below. All tears shall be wiped away 
from our eyes, and every cause and occasion of 
tears forever removed from our sight. There there 
are no tumults, no wars, no poverty, no death, nor 
disease — there there is neither mourning, nor fear, 
nor sin, which is the source and fountain of all other 
evils — there is neither violence within doors nor 
without, nor any complaint in the streets of that 
blessed city — there no friend goes out nor enemy 
comes in. 

Full vigor of body and mind, health, beauty, pu- 
rity, and perfect tranquillity. 

The most delightful society of angels, prophets, 
apostles, martyrs, and all the saints ; among whom 
there are no reproaches, contentions, controversies, 
nor party spirit, because there are there none of the 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 223 

sources whence they can spring, nor any thing to 
encourage their growth ; for there is there particu- 
larly no ignorance, no blind self-love, no vainglory, 
nor envy, which is quite excluded from those divine 
regions ; but, on the contrary, perfect charity, where- 
by every one, together with his own felicity, enjoys 
that of his neighbors, and is happy in the one as 
well as the other. Hence there is among them a 
kind of infinite reflection and multiplication of hap- 
piness, like that of a spacious hall adorned with gold 
and precious stones, dignified with a full assembly 
of kings and potentates, and having its walls quite 
covered with the brightest looking-glasses. 

But what infinitely exceeds, and quite eclipses all 
the rest, is that boundless ocean of happiness, which 
results from the beatific vision of the ever-blessed 
God, without which neither the tranquillity they en- 
joy, nor the society of saints, nor the possession of 
any particular finite good, nor, indeed, of all such 
taken together, can satisfy the soul, or make it com- 
pletely happy. — Robert Leighton. 



Every man is, what he once was and always will 
be, a condemned sinner, notwithstanding any repent- 
ance or future obedience, without an interest in 
Christ. — T. Adam. 



224: LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE OPENED GATES. 
Oh sometimes, when ad own the sky 

The fiery sunset lingers, 
Heaven's gates swing inward noiselessly, 

Unlocked by unseen fingers. 

And while they stand a moment half ajar 5 

Gleams from the inner glory 
Stream from the azure vault afar, 

And half reveal the story. — Anon. 



NEARER HEA VEN. 
Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.- 
Romans xiii., n. 

One sweetly solemn thought 

Comes to me o'er and o'er — 
I'm nearer home to-day 

Than I've ever been before. 

Nearer my Father's house, 

Where the many mansions be; 

Nearer the great white throne, 
Nearer the crystal sea. 

Nearer the bound of life, 

Where we lay our burden down ; 

Nearer leaving the cross, 
Nearer gaining the crown. 




AGE! 85. 



Engraved "by 



ETarpi 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 225 

But lying daily between, 

Winding down through the night, 
Is the deep and unknown stream 

That leads at last to the light. 

Jesus, perfect my trust, 

Strengthen the band of my faith ; 
Let me feel Thee near when I stand 

On the edge of the shore of death ; 

Feel Thee near when my feet 

Are slipping over the brink ; 
For it may be I'm nearer home, 

Nearer now than I think. 



WANDERING THOUGHTS. 
To expect deliverance from those wandering 
thoughts which are occasioned by evil spirits is to 
expect that the devil should die or fall asleep, or 
at least should no more go about as a roaring lion. 
To expect deliverance from those which are occa- 
sioned by other men is to expect either that men 
should cease from the earth, or that we should be 
absolutely secluded from them, and have no inter- 
course with them ; or that, having eyes, we should 
not see, neither hear with our ears, but be as sense- 
less as stocks or stones. And to pray for deliver- 
ance from those which are occasioned by the body 



226 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

is in effect to pray that we may leave the body. 
Otherwise it is praying for impossibilities and ab- 
surdities ; praying that God would reconcile contra- 
dictions by continuing our union with a corruptible 
body without the natural necessary consequences 
of that union. It is as if we should pray to be an- 
gels and men, mortal and immortal at the same time. 
Nay, but when that which is immortal is come, mor- 
tality is done away, 

Rather let us pray, both with the spirit and with 
the understanding, that " all these things may work 
together for our good ;" that we may suffer all the 
infirmities of our nature, all the interruptions of men, 
all the assaults and suggestions of evil spirits, and 
in all be " more than conquerors." Let us pray that 
we may be delivered from all sin — that both root 
and branch may be destroyed ; that we may be 
" cleansed from all pollution of flesh and spirit," from 
every evil temper, and word, and work ; that we 
may "love the Lord our God with all our heart, 
with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our 
strength ;" that all the fruits of the Spirit may be 
found in us ; not only love, joy, peace, but also " long 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, 
temperance." Pray that all " these things may flour- 
ish and abound, may increase in you more and more, 
till an abundant entrance be ministered unto you 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 227 

into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." — John Wesley, 



CLOUDS. 
Be cheerful beneath the cloud. And if the cloud 
should come in the daytime, still be cheerful. The 
Israelites had the cloud in the day. I recollect 
once kneeling with familiar friendliness and love 
around the family altar of a dear friend, whom I 
loved as I believe I loved no other on this earth, 
and he prayed for me that I might know what it 
was to have the pillar of cloud when the day was 
too bright, and the pillar of fire when the night was 
too dark. We need that always, do we not ? The 
pillar of cloud and pillar of fire are needed as much 
for us as for the Israelites of old. Did I mention 
to you what I thought as I saw that picture of the 
German painter some time ago ? I could not make 
out what he meant by it. It was called " cloud-land," 
and it seemed nothing but cloud on cloud. But 
what do you think ? As I looked, I saw that every 
cloud turned into an angel or an angel's wing, and 
the whole picture, that seemed at first only a mass 
of gloom, looked out upon me with hundreds of an- 
gels' eyes and hundreds of angels' wings. So with 
all clouds ; if God comes nigh to us by them, look at 



228 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

them, and they turn into angels. They are not de- 
sirable in themselves, they are not pleasant ; no chas- 
tisement, no affliction, no cloud is at present joyous, 
but grievous. We foolish men would walk always 
in the day-brightness ; we do not want clouds ; but 
the angels know their value, and God too, or he 
would never send them to us. — Edw. Paxton Hood. 



JUST AS I AM. 

Him that comet h to me I will in no wise cast out — John 
vi-, 37- 

Just as I am, without one plea 
But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
And that Thou bicld'st me come to Thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

Just as I am, and waiting not 
To rid my soul of one dark blot, 
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

Just as I am, though tossed about 
With many a conflict, many a doubt, 
Fightings and fears within, without, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind. 
Sight, riches, healing of the mind, 
Yea, all I need, in Thee to find, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 229 

Just as 1 am, Thou wilt receive, 
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve ; 
Because Thy promise I believe, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

Just as I am (Thy love unknown 
Has broken every barrier down), 
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

Just as I am, of that free love 
The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove, 
Here for a season, then above, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

Charlotte Elliott. 



BLESSED WORK FOR OLD AGE. 

.... But oh, it is not so ; old age is a blessed 
time, when, looking back on the follies, sins, and 
mistakes of past life, too late indeed to remedy, but 
not too late to repent, we may " put off earthly gar- 
ments one by one, and dress ourselves for heaven." 
Griefs that are heavy to the young are to the old 
calm and almost joyful, as tokens of the near and 
ever-nearing time when there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither any more pain. 

.... Even though walking in darkness for a 
while, the aged have the sure promise, " At eventide 
it shall be light." — Anon. 



230 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



LIKE THE SWIFT SHIPS. 

You may well conceive how swiftly the mariner 

flies from a threatening storm, or seeks the port 

where he will find his home. You have sometimes 

seen how the ship cuts through the billows, leaving 

a white furrow T behind her, and causing the sea to 

boil around her. Such is life, says Job, "like the 

swift ships," when the sails are filled by the wind, 

and the vessel dashes on, dividing a passage through 

the crowded water. Swift are the ships, but swifter 

far is life. The wind of time bears me along. I 

can not stop its motion. I may direct it with the 

rudder of God's Holy Spirit. I may, it is true, take 

in some small sails of sin, which might hurry my 

days on faster than otherwise they would go ; but, 

nevertheless, like a swift ship, my life must speed 

on its way until it reaches its haven. Where is 

that haven to be ? Shall it be found in the land of 

bitterness and barrenness, that dreary region of the 

lost ? Or shall it be that sweet haven of eternal 

peace, where not a troubling wave can ruffle the 

quiescent glory of my spirit ? Wherever the haven 

is to be, that truth is the same, we are " like the 

swift ships." — Charles Spurgeon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 231 



THE BIBLE. 
A poor old woman, being asked if she had a Bi- 
ble, said, " What should I do without my Bible ? It 
was the guide of my youth, and it is the staff of my 
age. It wounded me, and it healed me ; it con- 
demned me, and it acquitted me. It showed me I 
was a sinner, and it led me to the Savior; it has 
given me comfort through life, and I trust it will 
give me hope in death." 



COMFORT FOR MOURNERS. 
"A bruised reed will he not break." Perhaps 
the imagery may be derived from the practice of the 
ancient shepherds, who were wont to amuse them- 
selves with the music of a pipe of reed or straw ; 
and when it was bruised, they broke it, or threw it 
away as useless. But the bruised reed shall not be 
broken by this divine Shepherd of souls. The mu- 
sic of broken sighs and groans is, indeed, all that the 
broken reed can afford him ; the notes are but low, 
melancholy, and jarring, and yet he will not break 
the instrument, but he will repair and tune it till it is 
fit to join in the concert of angels on high ; and 
even now its humble strains are pleasing to his ears. 

S4MUEL DaVIKS 



232 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 



THE LESSONS OF SORROW. 
There are many things which nothing but sor- 
row can teach us. Sorrow is the great teacher. 
Sorrow is the realizer. It is a strange and touch- 
ing thing to hear the young speak truths which are 
not yet within the limits of their experience ; to list- 
en while they say that life is sorrowful, that friends 
are treacherous, that there is quiet in the grave. 
When we are boys we adopt the phrases that we 
hear. In a kind of prodigal excess of happiness, 
we say that the world is a dream, and life a noth- 
ing ; that eternity lasts forever, and that all here is 
disappointment. But there comes a day of sharp- 
ness, when we find, to our surprise, that what we 
said had a meaning in it, and we are startled. That 
is the sentimentalism of youth passing into reality. 
In the lips of the young, such phrases are only sen- 
timentalities. What we mean by sentimentalism is 
that state in which a man speaks things deep and 
true, not because he feels them strongly, but because 
he perceives that they are beautiful, and that it is 
touching and fine to say them — things which he fain 
would feel, and fancies he does feel. Therefore, 
when all is well, when friends abound, and health is 
strong, and the comforts of life are around us, re- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 233 

ligion becomes faint and shadowy. Religious phra- 
seology passes into cant; the gay, and light, and 
trifling use the same words as the holiest, till the 
earnest man, who feels what the world is senti- 
mentalizing about, shuts up his heart, and either 
coins other phrases or else keeps silence. And then 
it is that, if God would rescue a man from that un- 
real world of names and mere knowledge, he does 
what he did with Job — he strips him of his flocks, 
and his herds, and his wealth ; or else, what is the 
equivalent, of the power of enjoying them. The de- 
sire of his eyes falls from him at a stroke. Things 
become real then. Trials bring man face to face 
with God. God and he touch, and the flimsy veil 
of bright cloud that hung between him and the sky 
is blown away. He feels that he is standing outside 
the earth, with nothing between him and the Eter- 
nal Infinite. Oh ! there is something in the sick-bed, 
and the aching heart, and the restlessness and the 
languor of shattered health, and the sorrow of affec- 
tions withered, and the stream of life poisoned at its 
fountain, and the cold, lonely feeling of utter raw- 
ness of the heart which is felt when God strikes 
home in earnest, that forces a man to feel what is 
real and what is not. 

This is the blessing of affliction to those who will 
lie still, and not struggle in a cowardly or a resent- 

Q 



234 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

ful war. It is God speaking to Job out of the whirl- 
wind, and saying, " In the sunshine and the warmth 
you can not meet me ; but in the hurricane and the 
darkness, when wave after wave has swept down 
and across the soul, you shall see my form, and 
hear my voice, and know that your Redeemer liv- 
eth." — F. W. Robertson. 



"NOT A FORGETUL HEAREBP 
An old Scotch woman was sprinkling water upon 
some linen stretched upon the grass by the road- 
side for bleaching. Her minister chanced to pass 
by at the time, and, stopping, he inquired if she had 
been to church on the last Sabbath. She said she 
had. But, upon being asked for the text and sub- 
ject of discourse, she could remember neither the 
one nor the other. "What good, then," asked the 
minister, " does it do you to go to church and hear 
the Gospel if you so soon forget the text and every 
word of the sermon ?" Pausing a moment, the old 
woman, looking up, replied, " The water which I 
sprinkle on this linen is quickly dried up, and not 
one drop of it is left, yet the linen grows whiter and 
whiter ; and if I can not remember either the text 
or the sermon, I hope that I grow better and bet- 
ter." — Anon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 235 



HARDENING THE HEART. 

On a winter evening, when the frost is setting in 
with growing intensity, and when the sun is now far 
past the meridian, and gradually sinking in the west- 
ern sky, there is a double reason why the ground 
growls every moment harder and more impenetrable 
to the plow. On the one hand, the frost of even- 
ing, with ever-increasing intensity, is indurating the 
stiffening clods. On the other hand, the genial rays, 
which alone can soften them, are every moment 
withdrawing and losing their enlivening power. 
Take heed that it be not so with you. As long as 
you are unconverted, you are under a double pro- 
cess of hardening. The frosts of an eternal night 
are settling down upon your souls, and the Sun of 
Righteousness, with westering wheel, is hastening 
to set upon you evermore. If, then, the plow of 
grace can not force its way into your icebound 
heart to-day, what likelihood is there that it will en- 
ter to-morrow ? — R. M. McCheyne. 



'Tis little troubles that wear the heart out. It is 
easier to throw a bomb-shell a mile than a feather 
— let us seek, then, especial grace to bear them. 



236 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



BE MERCIFUL TO ME, A SINNER 

When at Thy footstool, Lord, I bend, 
And plead with Thee for mercy there. 

Think of the sinner's dying friend, 
And for His sake receive my prayer. 

Oh think not of my shame and guilt, 
My thousand stains of deepest dye ; 

Think of the blood which Jesus spilt, 
And let that blood my pardon buy. 

Think, Lord, how I am still Thy own, 
The trembling creature of Thy hand ; 

Think how my heart to sin is prone, 
And what temptations round me stand. 

Oh think upon Thy holy Word, 
And every plighted promise there ; 

How prayer should evermore be heard, 
And how Thy glory is to spare. 

Oh think not of my doubts and fears, 
My strivings with Thy grace divine ; 

Think upon Jesus' woes and tears, 
And let His merits stand for mine. 

Thine eye, Thine ear, they are not dull; 

Thine arm can never shortened be; 
Behold me here ; my heart is full ; 

Behold, and spare, and succor me ! — H. F. Lytb, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 237 



THE SPIRIT OF PRAISE. 
" Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and all that is with- 
in me, bless his holy name." Wake up, my memory, 
and find matter for the song. Tell what God has 
done for me in days gone by. Fly back, ye thoughts, 
to my childhood ; sing of cradle-mercies. Review 
my youth and its early favors. Sing of long-suffer- 
ing grace which followed my wanderings, and bore 
with my rebellions. Review before my eyes that 
gladsome hour when first I knew the Lord, and tell 
over again the matchless story of his mercy. Awake 
up, my judgment, and give measure to the music. 
Come forth, my understanding, and weigh his lov- 
ing-kindness in the balance. See if thou canst 
count the small dust of his mercies. See if thou 
canst estimate the unsearchable riches which God 
hath given thee in his unspeakable gift of Christ 
Jesus. Recount his eternal love to thee. Reckon 
up the treasures of that everlasting covenant which 
he made on thy behalf, and which was " ordered in 
all things and sure." Sing aloud of that divine wis- 
dom which contrived, of that love which planned, 
and of that grace which carried out the scheme of 
thy redemption. " Bless the Lord, O my soul !" 
For doth not all nature around me praise him ? If 



238 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

I were silent I should be an exception to the uni- 
verse. Doth not the thunder praise him as it rolls 
like drums in the march of the God of Armies ? 
Do not the mountains praise him when the woods 
upon their summits wave in adoration ? Does not 
the lightning write his name in letters of fire upon 
the midnight darkness ? Hath not the whole earth 
a voice, and shall I, can I be silent ? " Bless the 
Lord, O my soul." — Charles Spurgeon. 



LOSS AND GAIN 

Dr. Payson, in his dying hours, said he could have 
saved himself much trouble in life if he had only 

believed that the Savior's presence was enough to 
fill him with joy if all worldly comforts were taken 
away. He found it so in sickness, but could not 
quite believe it in health. A poor simple man, with 
none of Payson's imagination or fancy, once said, in 
a similar spirit, with his dying words, " I have lost 
all my property ; I have lost all my relations ; my 
last son is dead ; I have lost my hearing and my 
eyesight ; I am all alone, old and poor ; but it makes 
no difference : Christ never grows old ; Christ nev- 
er is poor ; Christ never dies ; and Christ never will 
forsake me." 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 239 



OUR PILGRIMAGE. 
We are passing toward final rest. Do not regret 
it if the eyes grow dim. You will see better by-and- 
by. If the ear is growing heavy, do not be sorry. 
If your youth is passing, and your beauty fading, 
do not mourn. If your hand trembles, and your 
foot is unsteady with age, be not depressed in spirit. 
With every impediment, with every sign of the tak- 
ing down of this tabernacle, remember that it is the 
striking of the tent that the march may begin, and 
when next you pitch your tabernacle it shall be on 
an undisturbed shore, and that there, with eyes un- 
wet with tears, through an atmosphere undimmed 
by clouds, and before a God unveiled, and never to 
be wrapped in darkness any more — that there, look- 
ing back upon this world of ignorance, and suffer- 
ing, and trouble, and upon the hardships of the way, 
you will, with full and discerning reason, lift up your 
voice, and give thanks to God and say, " There was 
not one trouble too much ; there was not one sor- 
row too piercing." And you will thank God in that 
land for the very things that wring tears from your 
eyes in this. Look, then, to that better land, out of 
all the trouble of the way — sigh for it, pray for it, 
prepare for it, and enter into it. — Anon. 



2±0 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



DANGER OF BACKSLIDING IN OLD AGE. 

Did it ever occur to you that Christians were 
more apt to backslide and fall into open sin in the 
latter part of their religious course than in its earlier 
stages ? It is a startling announcement, but I think 
you will find it true. Look at all the cases of back- 
sliding recorded in the Bible. Did they not, every 
one of them, occur late in life ? There was David. 
In the days of his youth and early manhood, a pat- 
tern of faith and devotion. In advanced life guilty 
of murder and adultery, and still later of pride and 
self-conceit in numbering the people. Look at Mo- 
ses. The great sin of his. life committed when just 
about to enter the promised land. Look at Heze- 
kiah — the " good king Hezekiah." In his early days 
zealous and devout. The last fifteen years of his 
life (a special gift from his God, and therefore, one 
would think, to be specially consecrated to him) 
bringing "wrath upon himself and upon Jerusalem." 
So, too, with Josiah and with Solomon. Alas ! " the 
strongest are weak and the wisest are fools when 
left to be sifted in Satan's sieve." It becometh the 
old as well as the young to watch and pray lest they 
enter into temptation. — Anon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 241 



MY GBA CE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE 

Youe harps, ye trembling saints, 
Down from the willows take ; 

Loud to the praise of love divine 
Bid every string awake. 

Though in a foreign land, 

We are not far from home, 
And nearer to our house above 

We every moment come. 

His grace will to the end 

Stronger and brighter shine, 
Nor present things, nor things to come, 

Shall quench the spark divine. 

When we in darkness walk, 

Nor feel the heavenly flame, 
Then is the time to trust our God, 

And rest upon His name. 

Soon shall our doubts and fears 

Subside at His control ; 
His loving kindness shall break through 

The midnight of the soul. 

Bless' d is the man, O God, 

That stays himself on Thee ! 
Who waits for Thy salvation, Lord, 

Shall Thy salvation see. — Toplady. 



242 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE TREATMENT OF THE GREAT PHYSICIAN. 

Let us look at the bright side of life, and believe 
that God means us to be always ascending — al- 
ways getting nearer to himself — always learning 
something new about him — always loving him bet- 
ter and better. To be sure, our souls are sick, and 
of themselves can't keep "ever on the wing;" but I 
have had some delightful thoughts of late from just 
hearing the title of a book, "Gods Method with the 
Maladies of a Soul." It gives one such a concep- 
tion of the seeming ills of life to think of him as 
our Physician, the ills all remedies, the deprivations 
only a wholesome regimen, the losses all gains. 
When, as I study this individual case and that, I see 
how patiently and persistently he tries now this rem- 
edy, now that, and how infallibly he cures the souls 
that submit to his remedies, I love him so ! — I love 
him so ! And I am so astonished that we are rest- 
ive under his unerring hand ! Think how he dealt 
with me. My soul was sick unto death — sick with 
worldliness, and self-pleasing, and folly. There was 
only one way of making me listen to reason, and 
that was just the way he took. He snatched me 
right out of the world, and shut me up in one room, 
crippled, helpless, and alone, and set me to thinking, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 243 

thinking, thinking, until I saw the emptiness and 
shallowness of all in which I had hitherto been in- 
volved. And then I was shown the realities of life, 
and he was revealed to me as my invisible, unknown 
Physician. Can I love him with half my heart ? 
Can I be asking questions as to how much I am to 
pay toward the debt I owe him ? — Mrs. E. Pren- 
tiss, 'Stepping Heavenward." 



THE PRIESTHOOD OF HOLY SONG. 
Never should it be forgotten that, among the roy- 
alties and beatitudes of that world of light and life, 
evermore the voice of holy psalm and glad hosanna 
thrills the happy spirits of its redeemed and rejoic- 
ing multitudes with an ecstasy of bliss altogether 
unknown to the denizens of this shadowy, sin-smit- 
ten world of ours. Would we, then, aspire to the 
true nobility of Christian life, while we cherish 
chiefly the rich treasury of divine truth enshrined 
in the sacred oracles, let us not hold in small es- 
teem their spiritual teachings, conveyed to us by 
these beautiful translations into song : 

"God sent His singers upon earth. 
With song of sadness and of mirth, 
That they might touch the hearts of men, 
And bring them back to heaven again." 



244 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Then even as a wayside sacrament will these per- 
suasive measures prove to us along our pilgrim 
path, brightening and beautifying our dark and 
shady places, and, as by a divine alchemy, trans- 
muting our bitterest sorrows into serenest joys. 
Let memory be but true to her trust, and among 
the choicest of her spoils as a celestial benison will 
be the precious legacy thus bequeathed to us by the 
gifted and the good — the priesthood of holy song. 
Like some saintly evangel will these sweet lyrics 
ofttimes prove their potency by urging our dull 
souls, full panoplied for the warfare — with sandal 
shoon and pilgrim staff — onward and upward in the 
divine life, till, leaving the discordant accompani- 
ments of earth all forgotten, we attain to where 

"No groans shall mingle with the songs 
Which warble from immortal tongues." 

Frederick Saunders. 



FAITH. 

Faith is the eye by which we look to Jesus. 
A dim-sighted eye is still an eye ; a weeping eye is 
still an eye. 

Faith is the hand with which we lay hold of 
Jesus. A trembling hand is still a hand, and he is 
a believer whose heart within him trembles when 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 245 

he touches the hem of the Savior's garment that he 
may be healed. 

Faith is the tongue by which we taste how 
good the Lord is. A feverish tongue is neverthe- 
less a tongue. And even then we may believe, when 
we are without the smallest portion of comfort ; for 
our faith is founded, not upon feelings, but upon the 
promises of God. 

Faith is the foot by which we go to Jesus. A 
lame foot is still a foot. He who comes slowly, 
nevertheless comes. — H. Muller. 



JEHO VAH JIBEH. 

Abraham did not find the provision of God as 
soon as he left his house, or halfway on his journey, 
or at the foot of the hill, or as soon as the altar was 
built, but just as soon as he was about to take 
away Isaac's life. At this crisis the voice of the 
angel was heard, the hand was arrested, and the ram 
seen awaiting him in the thicket. This shows that 
God provides for us in wisdom according to our ne- 
cessities and circumstances. We have not the 
things of heaven on earth, but when our souls, 
through grace, ascend to the mount of God, the glo- 
ry will be provided for us. We have not dying 
grace in the full enjoyment of health, but when we 



246 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

come to death, if we now live to him, dying grace 
will be awaiting us. We have not the grace of be- 
reavement when we are rejoicing in the midst of 
unbroken circles ; but when the enemy makes a 
breach, we shall find, as our day, our strength will 
be. God works upon this principle in nature as 
well as in grace. The harvest does not come in 
spring ; then the husbandman has something else to 
do ; he has to prepare for the harvest. When all 
the preparatory work is done, then harvest comes, 
as provided by the wisdom and goodness of God. — 
John Bate. 



ARISE, SHINE, FOR TUT LIGHT IS COME. 

We are pilgrims to a dwelling-place of blessed- 
ness, and the light that streams through its open 
portals ought to suffice us as we approach them. 
An anticipated beatitude, a sanctity that even now 
breathes of Paradise, a grace which is already tinged 
with the richer lines of glory- — these should mark 
the Christian disciple, and these, as he advances in 
years, should brighten and deepen upon and around 
him, until this distinction of earth and heaven is al- 
most lost, and the spirit, in its placid and unearthly 
repose, is gone, as it were, before the body, and at 
rest already with its God. A being already invest- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 247 

ed with a deathless life, already adopted into the im- 
mediate family of God, already enrolled in the broth- 
erhood of angels, yea, of the Lord of angels ; a be- 
ing who, amid the revolutions of earth and skies, 
feels and knows himself indestructible, capacitated 
to outlast the universe, a sharer in the immortality 
of God — what is there that can be said of such a 
one which falls not below the awful glory of his 
position ? Oh, misery, that with such a calling, 
man should be the groveling thing he is ! that, 
summoned but to pause for a while in the vestibule 
of the eternal Temple ere he be introduced into its 
sanctuaries, he should forget, in the dreams of his 
lethargy, the eternity that awaits him. Oh, wretch- 
edness beyond words, that, surrounded by love, and 
invited to glory, he should have no heart for happi- 
ness, but should still cower in the dark, while light 
ineffable solicits him to behold and to enjoy it! — W. 
Archer Butler. 



When Egypt's king God's chosen tribe pursued, 
In crystal walls the admiring waters stood ; 
When through the desert wild they took their way, 
The rocks relented and poured forth a sea, 
What limit can almighty goodness know, 
When seas can harden, and when rocks can flow. 

Alexander Pope. 



248 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



SABBATH HYMN FOR A SICK-CHAMBER, 

Thousands, O Lord of Hosts ! this day 

Around Thy altar meet, 
And tens of thousands throng to pay 

Their homage at Thy feet. 

They see Thy power and glory there, 

As I have seen them too ; 
They read, they hear, they join in prayer, 

As I was wont to do. 

They sing Thy deeds, as I have sung, 

In sweet and solemn lays; 
Were I among them, my glad tongue 

Might learn new themes of praise. 

For Thou art in their midst to teach 
When on Thy name they call ; 

And Thou hast blessings, Lord, for each— 
Hast blessings, Lord, for all. 

I, of such fellowship bereft, 

In spirit turn to Thee; 
Oh ! hast Thou not a blessing left — 

A blessing, Lord, for me ? 

The dew lies thick on all the ground ; 

Shall my poor fleece be dry ? 
The manna rains from heaven around ; 

Shall I of hunger die ? 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 249 

Behold Thy prisoner ; loose my bands, 

If 'tis Thy gracious will ; 
If not, contented in Thy hands, 

Behold Thy prisoner still. 

I may not to Thy house repair, 

Yet here Thou surely art ; 
Lord, consecrate a house of prayer 

In my surrendered heart. 

To faith reveal the things unseen, 

To hope the joys unfold ; 
Let love, without a veil between, 

Thy glory now behold. 

O make Thy face on me to shine, 
That doubt and fear may cease; 
Lift up Thy countenance benign 
On me, and give me peace. 



THINK OF THIS. 
Whatever of our frailties and infirmities may be 
remembered by our surviving friends when the green 
sod is growing over us, let it not be said that we had 
within us unkind and churlish hearts. We are borne 
with ; let us bear with others ; not forgetting the in- 
junction of the apostle Peter, " Be pitiful, be courte- 
ous;" nor that of Paul, "Be kindly affectioned one 

to another." — George Mogridge. 

E. 



250 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



I AM. 

When the Lord speaketh of himself with regard 
to his people, he saith I am. He doth not say I am 
their light, their life, their guide, their tower, or their 
strength, but only / AM. He sets his hand as it 
were to a blank, that his people might write under 
it what they please that is for their good. As if he 
should say, Are they weak ? I am strength. Are 
they sick ? I am health. Are they in trouble ? I 
am comfort. Are they poor ? I am riches. Are 
they dying ? I am life. Have they nothing ? I 
am all things. I am justice and mercy ; I am grace 
and goodness ; I am glory, beauty, holiness, eminen- 
cy, supremacy, perfection, all -sufficiency, eternity, 
Jehovah — I am whatsoever is suitable to their na- 
ture, or convenient for them in their several condi- 
tions. I am whatsoever is amiable in itself or de- 
sirable to their souls. Whatsoever is pure or holy, 
whatsoever is great and pleasant, whatsoever is 
good and needful to make them happy, that I am. 
So that, in short, God here represents himself unto 
us as one universal good, and leaves us to make the 
application to ourselves, according to our several 
wants, capacities, and desires, by saying only in 
general I AM. — William Beveridge. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 251 



MEMORY OF KINDNESS. 

Among the Alps, when the day is done, and twi- 
light and darkness are creeping over fold and ham- 
let in the valleys below, Mont Rosa and Mont Blanc 
rise up far above the darkness, catching from the 
retreating sun something of his light, flushed with 
rose-color, exquisite beyond all words, or pencil, or 
paint, glowing like the gate of heaven. 

And so past favors and kindnesses lift themselves 
up in the memory of noble natures, and long after the 
lower parts of life are darkened by neglect, or selfish- 
ness, or anger, former loves, high up above all clouds, 
glow with divine radiance, and seem to forbid the 
advance of night any further. — H. W. Beecher. 



LOOKING TO JESUS. 
In every enjoyment, O Christian, look unto Je- 
sus ; receive it as proceeding from his love, and pur- 
chased by his agonies. In every tribulation look 
unto Jesus ; mark his gracious hand managing the 
scourge, or mingling the bitter cup ; attempering it 
to a proper degree of severity ; adjusting the time 
of its continuance, and ready to make these seem- 
ing disasters productive of real good. In every in- 



252 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

firmity and failing look unto Jesus, thy merciful 
High-priest, pleading his atoning blood, and making 
intercession for transgressors. In every prayer 
look unto Jesus, thy prevailing Advocate, recom- 
mending thy devotions, and "bearing the iniquity 
of thy holy things." In every temptation look unto 
Jesus, the Author of thy strength and Captain of 
thy salvation, who alone is able to lift up the hands 
which hang down, to invigorate the enfeebled knees, 
and make thee more than conqueror over all thy 
enemies. But especially when the hour of thy de- 
parture approaches, and when thy flesh and thy 
heart fail, when all the springs of life are irreparably 
breaking, then look unto Jesus with a believing eye. 
Like expiring Stephen, behold him standing at the 
right hand of God on purpose to succor his people 
in this their last extremity. 

Yes, my Christian friend, when thy journey 
through life is finished, and thou art arrived on the 
very verge of mortality ; when thou art just launch- 
ing out into the invisible world, and all before thee 
is vast eternity, then, oh then look unto Jesus. See 
by faith the Lord's* Christ. View him as the only 
" Way" to the everlasting mansions ; as the only 
" Door" to the abodes of bliss. — J. Hervey. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 253 



LIGHT AT EVENTIDE. 

At evening time let there be light : 
Life's little day draws near its close ; 

Around me fall the shades of night, 
The night of death, the grave's repose : 
To crown my joys, to end my woes, 

At evening time let there be light. 

At evening time let there be light : 
Stormy and dark hath been my day ; 

Yet rose the morn divinely bright, 
Dews, birds, and blossoms cheered the way. 
Oh for one sweet, one parting ray ! 

At evening time let there be light. 

At evening time there shall be light, 
For God hath spoken — it must be ; 

Fear, doubt, and anguish take their flight— 
His glory now is risen on me, 
Mine eyes shall His salvation see. 

Tis evening time, and there is light. 



I WILL FEAR NO EVIL. 

The Lord my pasture shall prepare, 
And feed me with a shepherd's care ; 
His presence shall my wants supply, 
And guard me with a watchful eye ; 



254 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

My noon-day walks He shall attend. 
And all my midnight hours defend. 

When in the sultry glebe I faint, 
Or on the thirsty mountain pant, 
To fertile vales and dewy meads 
My weary, wandering steps He leads, 
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow, 
Amid the verdant landscape flow. 

Though in the paths of death I tread, 
With gloomy horrors overspread, 
My steadfast heart shall fear no ill, 
For Thou, O Lord, art with me still ; 
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid, 
And guide me through the dreadful shade. 

Though in a bare and rugged way, 
Through devious lonely wilds I stray, 
Thy bounty shall my wants beguile ; 
The barren wilderness shall smile, 
With sudden greens and herbage crowned, 
And streams shall murmur all around. 

Joseph Addison. 



To pass through life without sorrow would, nat- 
urally speaking, be good ; but patiently to bear sor- 
row and profit by it is still better ; the former is a 
temporary good, the latter eternal. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 255 



PRAYER AND TEMPTATION 

Prayer is an action of likeness to the Holy Ghost, 
the spirit of gentleness and dove-like simplicity ; an 
imitation of the holy Jesus, whose spirit is meek, up 
to the greatness of the biggest example ; and a con- 
formity to God, whose anger is always just, and 
marches slowly, and is without transportation, and 
often hindered, and never hasty, and is full of mercy : 
prayer is the peace of our spirit, the stillness of our 
thoughts, the evenness of recollection, the seat of 
meditation, the rest of our cares, and the calm of 
our tempest; prayer is the issue of a quiet mind, of 
untroubled thoughts ; it is the daughter of charity, 
and the sister of meekness ; and he that prays to 
God with an angry — that is, with a troubled and dis- 
composed spirit, is like him that retires into a battle 
to meditate, and sets up his closet in the old quar- 
ters of an army, and chooses a frontier garrison to 
be wise in. Anger is a perfect alienation of the 
mind from prayer, and therefore is contrary to that 
attention which presents our prayers in a right line 
of God. For so have I seen a lark rising from his 
bed of grass, and soaring upward, singing as he 
rises, and hopes to get to heaven, and climb above 
the clouds ; but the poor bird was beaten back with 



256 LIGHT AT E VENING TIME. 

the loud sighings of an eastern wind, and his motion 
was made irregular and inconstant, descending more 
at every breath of the tempest than it could recover 
by the libration and frequent weighing of his wings, 
till the little creature was forced to sit down and 
pant, and stay till the storm was over ; and then it 
made a prosperous flight, and did rise and sing as 
if it had learned music and motion from an angel as 
he passed sometimes through the air about his min- 
istries here below. So is the prayer of a good man 
when his affairs have required business, and his bus- 
iness was matter of discipline, and his discipline 
was to pass upon a sinning person, or had a design 
of charity, his duties met with the infirmities of a 
man, and anger was its instrument, and the instru- 
ment became stronger than the prime agent, and 
raised a tempest, and overruled the man ; and then 
his prayer was broken, and his thoughts were troub- 
led, and his words went up toward a cloud, and his 
thoughts pulled them back again, and made them 
without intention ; and the good man sighs for his 
infirmity, but must be content to lose the prayer, 
and he must recover it when his anger is removed, 
and his spirit is becalmed, made even as the brow 
of Jesus, and smooth like the heart of God ; and 
then it ascends to heaven upon the wings of the 
holy dove, and dwells with God, till it returns, like 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 257 

the useful bee. laden with a blessing and the dew 
of heaven. — Jeremy Taylor. 



REVIEW OF LIFE. 

Thou who, without respect of persons, judgest 
according to every man's work, have mercy upon 
me, and blot out of the book of thy remembrance 
the manifold transgressions of my life. It becom- 
eth me, O Lord, to take a review of the course in 
which I have walked ; but oh, what a review it is ! 
How many talents unimproved, and duties left un- 
done, and sins committed does it discover ! 

1 stand before thee inexcusable — self-condemn- 
ed ; but, blessed be thy name ! not without hope, for 
there is mercy and forgiveness with thee. Thou 
hast provided a sacrifice for sins. Thou hast re- 
vealed a Savior who made reconciliation for ini- 
quity. To him would I fly for refuge, humbly be- 
seeching him to order our cause before the throne 
of the Most High, that mercy may proceed from 
thence instead of judgment, and that my soul may 
sing of abounding grace. 

And ever, ever may the remembrance of my sins 
and of thy mercy abide with us. Recollecting that 
thou hast spared one whom thou couldst have de- 
stroyed, let the remainder of my life be considered 



258 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

as a grant of mercy made to me in order that I may 
bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Give me 
grace, therefore, O Lord, not only to repent of past 
sins and omissions, but to make it much of the busi- 
ness of my remaining days to supply the deficien- 
cies of my former ones. May I endeavor, in full 
dependence on thy grace, to be more faithful in all 
my duties. May I be careful to render unto all their 
dues ; and, above all, let me remember what is due 
to thee, O blessed God, from whom I receive all my 
blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. 

O Thou who hast been pleased, notwithstanding 
all my sins, hitherto to preserve me, vouchsafe me 
thy help during the remainder of my earthly course. 
May thy gracious presence direct and support me. 
Should any false light appear, suffer me not to fol- 
low it. Should the enemy come in like a flood, en- 
able me to lift up a standard against him. Thus, O 
Lord, be thou my light and my strength. I know 
not what a day may bring forth, nor need I be de- 
sirous of knowing ; let it be enough for me that, 
without thy permission, not a sparrow falleth to the 
ground. Enable me to cast all my care on thee. 
Bless to me both my enjoyments and my sufferings. 
Let my soul derive benefit by every thing that hap- 
pens to me. Whether my days be calm or stormy, 
bright or dark, make me to increase in faith, in holi- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME 259 

ness, in humility, patience, and charity, that I may 
be rich toward God, whatever I be in other respects. 
O Lord, hear this my prayer, for the sake of Christ 
Jesus my Redeemer. Amen. — James Bean. 



PR A YER A GAINST THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

O most gracious and merciful Father, give me 
grace to be always ready to obey thy summons, and 
willing to depart this life when thou callest. For- 
give me all my sins, which are the sting of death, 
that I may prepare to meet it as a harmless thing 
that can not hurt me — as a release from those weak- 
nesses and sorrows which render my life a burden 
to me. Keep me from being all my days in bond- 
age to the fear of death. Let not my spirit be 
broken with dreadful apprehensions of dying under 
the frown of thy displeasure ; but make me to re- 
member thy infinite mercies, the inexhaustible treas- 
ures of thy goodness and clemency, so that the con- 
sideration thereof may fortify my mind against the 
horrors of a dying hour. Strengthen me with a 
comfortable hope in thee, a steadfast faith in thy 
Son's atoning blood, and the power of his resurrec- 
tion. He has changed death into a sleep, and has 
promised to make the risen bodies of believers like 
unto his own glorified body. Enable me to exclaim 



260 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

with the triumphant apostle, "O death, where is thy 
sting? O grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be 
to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ." Let me, therefore, no longer be 
afraid of that which, through thy mercy, will be a 
happy passage into thy kingdom — the gate of ever- 
lasting bliss and glory. This I beg, through the 
merits of him who is the resurrection and the life. 
Amen. 



CONSOLING IDEA OF DEATH. 

i£ I congratulate you and myself," wrote John 
Foster to a friend, " that life is passing fast away. 
What a superlatively grand and consoling idea is 
that of Death! Without this radiant idea, this de- 
lightful morning-star, indicating that the luminary 
of eternity is going to rise, life would, to my view, 
darken into midnight melancholy. Oh ! the expec- 
tation of living here, and living thus always, would 
be indeed a prospect of overwhelming despair. But 
thanks to that fatal decree that dooms us to die — 
thanks to that Gospel which opens the vision of an 
endless life ; and thanks, above all, to that Savior- 
friend who has promised to conduct all the faithful 
through the sacred trance of death into scenes of 
paradise and everlasting delight." 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 261 



THE MAN CHRIST JESUS. 
Payson once wrote to a friend thus : " A man now 
fills the throne of heaven. And who is this man ? 
Mark it well ; it is a man who is not ashamed to 
call you 'brother.' You may not now know what 
he is doing with you, but you shall know hereafter ; 
you shall see the reason of all the trials and tempta- 
tions, the dark and comfortless hours, the long and 
tedious conflicts, and you will be convinced that not 
a sigh, not a single uneasy thought was allotted to 
you without a wise and gracious design." — Anon. 



THE HAPPY OLD MAN. 

One stormy winter day, the Rev, Mr. Young, of 
Jedburg, was visiting one of his people, an old man, 
who lived in great poverty in a lonely cottage. He 
found him sitting with the Bible open on his knees, 
but in outward circumstances of great discomfort — 
the snow drifting through the roof, and under the 
door, and scarce any fire on the hearth. "What 
are you about to-day, John ?" was his question on 
entering. ''Ah! sir," said the happy saint, " Tm 
sitting under his shadow with great delight !" — 
Anon. 



262 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



ATTAINING HAPPINESS. 
It is not so much by the symmetry of what we 
attain in this life that we are to be made happy, as 
by the enlivening hope of what we shall reach in 
the world to come. While a man is stringing a 
harp, he tries the strings, not for music, but for con- 
struction. When it is finished it shall be played for 
melodies. God is fashioning the human heart for 
future joy. He only sounds a string here and there 
to see how far his work has progressed. — H. W. 
Beecher. 



NEARER TO THEE. 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee ! 
E'en though it be a cross 

That raiseth me ; 
Still all my song shall be, 
Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee ! 

Though like the wanderer, 
The sun gone down, 

Darkness be over me, 
My rest a stone ; 

Yet in my dreams Pd be 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 263 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, 
Nearer to Thee ! 

There let the way appear 

Steps unto Heaven ; 
All that Thou send'st to Hie 

In mercy given ; 
Angels to beckon me 
Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee ! 

Then with my waking thoughts 

Bright with Thy praise, 
Out of my stony griefs 

Bethel I'll raise ; 
So by my woes to be 
Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee ! 

Or if on joyful wing 

Cleaving the sky, 
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, 

Upward I fly, 
Still all my song shall be, 
Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee ! — Saeah Flower Adams, 



Autumn hath violets as well as spring, 
And age its sweetness hath as well as youth. 

Mary Maynard. 



264 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



A PRAYER FOR LONGER LIFE. 

O spare me, that I may recover strength before I go 
hence, and be no more. — Psalm xxxix., 13. 

Why is it that we do not extremely hate that 
which we so desperately love — sin ? For the de- 
formity of itself is unspeakable ; and, besides, it is 
the cause of all our woes. Sin hath opened the 
sluices, and let in the deluge of sorrows, which 
makes the life of poor man nothing else but vanity 
and misery, so that the meanest orator in the world 
may be eloquent enough on that subject. What is 
our life but a continual succession of many deaths? 
Though we should say nothing of all the bitterness 
and vexations that are hatched under the sweetest 
pleasures in the world, this one thing is enough — 
the multitude of diseases and pains, the variety of 
distempers that those houses we are lodged in are 
exposed to. Poor creatures are ofttimes tossed be- 
tween two — the fear of death and the tediousness 
of life, and under these fears they can not tell which 
to choose. Holy men are not exempted from some 
apprehensions of God's displeasure because of their 
sins, and that may make them cry out with David, 
" O spare me, that I may recover strength before I 
go hence, and be no more." Or perhaps this may 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 265 

be a desire, not so much simply for the prolonging 
of life as for the intermitting of his pain, to have 
ease from the present smart. The extreme tor- 
ment of some sickness may draw the most fixed 
and confident spirits to cry out very earnestly for a 
little breathing. Or, rather, if the words imply a de- 
sire of recovery, and the spinning out of the thread 
of his life a little longer, surely he intended to em- 
ploy it for God and his service. But long life was 
suitable to the promises of that time. There is no 
doubt those holy men, under the law, knew some- 
what of the state of immortality ; their calling them- 
selves " strangers on the earth" argued that they 
were no strangers to these thoughts. But it can 
not be denied that the doctrine was but darkly laid 
out in those times. It is Christ Jesus who hath 
" brought life and immortality to light," who did il- 
luminate life and immortality, which before stood in 
the dark. 

Surely the desire of life is, for the most part, sen- 
sual and base, when men desire that they may still 
enjoy their animal pleasures, and are loth to be 
parted from them. They are pleased to term it a 
desire to live and repent, and yet few do it when 
they are spared; like evil debtors who desire for- 
bearance from one term to another, but with no de- 
sign at all to pay. But there is a natural desire of 

S 



266 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

life, something of abhorrence in nature against the 
dissolution of these tabernacles. We are loth to go 
forth, like children who are afraid to walk in the 
dark, not knowing what may be there. In some, 
such a desire of life may be very reasonable ; being 
surprised by sickness, and apprehensions of death 
and sin unpardoned, they may desire a little time 
before they enter into eternity. For that change is 
not a thing to be hazarded upon for a few days or 
hours' preparation. I will not say that a death-bed 
repentance is altogether desperate, but certainly it 
is very dangerous and to be suspected, and there- 
fore the desire of a little time longer, in such a case, 
may be very allowable. I will not deny but it is 
possible even for a believer to be taken in such a 
posture that it may be very uncomfortable to him 
to be carried off so, through the afFrightments of 
death and his darkness as to his after-state. On 
the other hand, it is an argument of a good meas- 
ure of spirituality and height of love to God to de- 
sire to depart and be dissolved in the midst of 
health and the affluence of worldly comforts. But 
for men to desire and wish to be dead when they 
are troubled and vexed with any thing is but a child- 
ish folly, flowing from a discontented mind, which 
being over, they desire nothing less than to die. It 
is true, there may be a natural desire of death, which 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 267 

at some time hath shined in the spirits of some nat- 
ural men ; and there is much reason for it, not only 
to be freed from the evils and troubles of this life, 
but even from those things which many of this fool- 
ish world account their happiness — sensual pleas- 
ures, to eat, and drink, and to be hungry again, and 
still to round that same course, which, to souls that 
are raised above sensual things, is burdensome and 
grievous. 

But there is a spiritual desire of death, which is 
very becoming a Christian. For Jesus Christ hath 
not only opened very clearly the doctrine of life, 
but he himself hath passed through death, and lain 
down in the grave ; he hath perfumed that passage, 
and warmed that bed for us, so that it is sweet and 
amiable for a Christian to pass through and follow 
him, and to be where he is. It is a strange thing 
that the souls of Christians have not a continual de- 
sire to go to that company which is above, finding 
so much discord and disagreement among the best 
of men that are here — to go to the spirits of just 
men made perfect, where there is light, and love, 
and nothing else — to go to the company of angels, 
a higher rank of blessed spirits ; but, most of all, to 
go to God, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the Nejw 
Testament. And, to say nothing positively of that 
glory (for, the truth is, we can say nothing of it), the 



268 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

very evils that death delivers the true Christian from 
may make him long for it ; for such a one may say, 
"I shall die and go to a more excellent country, 
where I shall be happy forever — that is, I shall 
die no more, I shall sorrow no more, and shall be 
tempted no more ; arid, which is chiefest of all, I 
shall sin no more." — Robert Leighton. 



A PRAYER ON PREPARATION FOR DEATH. 
Lord, what is our life but a vapor, that appears 
for a little time and then vanisheth away ! Even 
at the longest, how short ! and at the strongest, how 
frail ! and when we think ourselves most secure, yet 
we know not what a day may bring forth, nor how 
soon thou mayest come to call us to our last ac- 
count. Quickly shall we be as water spilt on the 
ground, that can not be gathered up again ; quickly 
snatched away from hence, and our place here shall 
know us no more forever. Our days, one after an- 
other, are spent apace ; and we know not how near 
to us is our last day, when our bodies shall be laid 
in the grave, and our souls be called to appear at 
the tribunal of God, to receive their eternal doom. 
Yet how have I lived in this world, as if I should 
never leave it ; how unmindful of my latter end ! 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 269 

how improvident of my time ! how careless of my 
soul ! how negligent in my preparation for my ever- 
lasting condition ! so that thou mayest justly bring 
my last hour as a snare upon me, to surprise me in 
my sins, and to cut me off in my iniquities. But, O 
Father of mercies, remember not my sins against 
me ; but remember thy own tender mercies and thy 
loving kindnesses, which have been ever of old. O 
remember how short my time is, and spare me, that 
I may recover strength before I go hence and be 
no more seen. Make me so wise as to consider 
my latter end, and teach me so to number my days 
that I may apply my heart to true wisdom. Lord, 
what have I to do in this world but to make ready 
for the world to come ! O that I may be mindful 
of it, and be careful to finish my work before I fin- 
ish my course ! 

In the days of my health and prosperity, oh that I 
may remember and provide for the time of trouble, 
and sickness, and .death, when the world's enjoy- 
ments will shrink away from me, and prove utterly 
unable to support and comfort me. Let me never 
allow myself in any course of living wherein I would 
be loth or afraid to die ; but let me see my corrup- 
tions mortified and subdued, that they may never 
rise up in judgment against me. Enable me so to 
die unto sin daily that I may not die for sin eternally 



270 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Instruct me, good Lord, and assist me in my prep- 
aration for a dying hour, that I may not then be 
fully surprised, but may meet it with comfort and 
composure. (Quicken me to a serious concern 
about that great work, and help me to perform it 
acceptably and with good success. Oh that I may 
be fitted for heaven ere I leave this world, and may 
have peace with God through Jesus Christ, before 
I depart hence into that state in which I must abide 
forever. O my Lord, make me so ready to meet 
thee at thy coming that thine appearance may be 
the matter of my hopes, and desires, and joyful ex- 
pectations ; that I may look and long for that bless- 
ed time when thou wilt put an everlasting period to 
all my troubles and temptations, and exchange my 
present state of infirmity and sin for a state of end- 
less happiness and glory. O thou who art my life 
and my strength, help me so to live as, at the hour 
of death, I shall wish I had lived ; and so to make 
ready for death all my days that, at my last day, I 
may have nothing to do but to die, and cheerfully to 
resign my spirit into thy gracious hands. O my 
Father, hear and answer my humble petitions, and 
let me find a merciful admission to thy favor and 
thy kingdom, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen 
— B. Jenks, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 271 



A PRAYER FOR ONE IN AFFLICTION 

" 1 know, Lord, that thy judgments are right, and 
that thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be 
troubled" (Psalm cxix., 75) ; for " before I was af- 
flicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word" 
(Psalm cxix., 6). Blessed be thy goodness for af- 
flicting me. 

I humbly beg of thee, O merciful Father, that this 
affliction may strengthen my faith, which thou saw- 
est was growing weak ; fix my hope, which was 
staggering; quicken my devotion, which was lan- 
guishing ; rekindle my charity, which was cooling ; 
revive my zeal, which was dying ; confirm my obe- 
dience, which was wavering ; recover my patience, 
which was fainting ; mortify my pride, which was 
presuming ; and perfect my repentance, which was 
daily decaying ; for all these and the like infirmities 
to which my soul is exposed, O make thy affliction 
my cure ! 

Grant, O my God, that this affliction thou hast in 
mercy laid on me may wean all my affections from 
the world, which I was apt to grow too fond of; 
rescue me from those occasions of evil of which I 
was in danger; secure me from those temptations 
which were ready to assault me ; restrain me from 



272 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

those sins to which my nature was strongly inclined ; 
preserve me from all those abuses of health I am 
apt to incur ; and purify my soul from all that dross, 
and from all those vicious propensions which either 
my impenitence has left behind, or which I have 
since contracted. 

O my God, let thy affliction produce my amend- 
ment, and all the happy effects in me which it is 
wont to do in thy children, and which thou in mercy 
dost design it should, and then continue thy afflic- 
tion if it seem good in thy sight ; behold, Lord, hap- 
py is the man whom thou has corrected (Job v., 7). 

What is best for me, O my God, I know not ; my 
flesh desires deliverance from this distemper, and if 
it be thy pleasure, O Lord, deliver me ; my spirit de- 
sires that thou only wouldst choose for me, because 
thou art my Father, and out of thy fatherly tender- 
ness wilt be sure to choose what is best for me. I 
resign my own will entirely to thine. Let me be 
enabled to say, after my gracious Savior's example, 
" Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from 
me ; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." 

Hear, Lord, and have compassion on me, for the 
merits and sufferings of Jesus Christ, whose perfect 
resignation may I always imitate. Amen. — Thom- 
as Ken. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 273 



A PRAYER FOR THE USE OF AN AGED PERSON. 
O Lord of my life, thou hast been my God from 
my birth, my hope and trust from my youth. By 
thee was I brought into the world, and upon thee 
have I lived all my days. With what patience and 
long-suffering hast thou endured me! and with 
what loving kindness and tender mercies hast thou 
still followed and preserved me ! How many have 
I seen snatched out of this life, and, as I fear, mis- 
erably unprepared for their death ; whereas thou 
prolongest my days, and still addest new mercies to 
my life. Oh that the lengthening of my days may 
be a real benefit, so that the whole work which the 
Lord has given me to do may be finished. May I 
redeem the time, and improve all means and oppor- 
tunities to the everlasting advantage of my soul. 
May my graces be as ripe as my years, and the re- 
mainder of my life be the best part of it. Though 
my sight is dim, let me not be blind to the things be- 
longing to my peace. Though my ears are dull of 
hearing, let my heart be attentive to thy word, and 
let me hear thy voice while it is called " to-day." 
Though I can not, as formerly, relish the pleasures 
of meat and drink, yet let me still taste the grace of 
the Lord, and savor the things of the Spirit of God. 



274: LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

And though my limbs are weak, and my strength 
will not serve me to travel abroad as I have done, 
yet make me strong in the Lord to do thy work, to 
walk in thy ways, and to pursue my journey home- 
ward to my house not made with mortal hands, 
eternal in the heavens. Oh let not the length of my 
life tempt me to forget that it must soon end, but let 
me keep my last day ever in near prospect. May 
I order all my concerns not only like a stranger and 
sojourner, but as a dying man preparing and wait- 
ing for the coming of the Lord. Oh that at thy 
coming thou mayest find me watching. And be- 
cause I am old in sins as well as in years, O my 
gracious Lord, give me that repentance which need- 
eth not to be repented of. Thou hast saved many 
old sinners ; be merciful to me in spite of my num- 
berless provocations. Put all my sins to the ac- 
count of thy dear Son my Redeemer, and wash them 
all away in the fountain of his blood. Especially, 
O merciful Lord, pardon those sins which make the 
thoughts of death and judgment most painful to me. 
O give me some evidence that I have found mercy 
at thy hands, through the all-sufficient merits of my 
only Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. — B. Jenks. 



Temptations are instructions. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 275 



ALL ONE IN CHRIST. 

Come, let us join our friends above ? 

That have obtained the prize, 
And on the eagle wings of love 

To joy celestial rise. 
Let all the saints terrestrial sing 

With those to glory gone, 
For all the servants of our King, 

In earth and heaven, are one. 

One family, we dwell in Hirn, 

One Church, above, beneath, 
Though now divided by the stream, 

The narrow stream of death. 
One army of the living God, 

To His command we bow ; 
Part of His host hath crossed the flood, 

And part is crossing now. 

Ten thousand to their endless home 

This solemn moment fly ; 
And we are to the margin come, 

And we expect to die ; 
His militant embodied host, 

With wishful looks we stand, 
And long to see that happy coast, 

And reach that heavenly land. 



1276 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Our old companions in distress 

We haste again to see, 
And eager long for our release 

And full felicity : 
Even now by faith we join our hands 

"With those that went before, 
And greet the blood-besprinkled bands 

On the eternal shore. 

Our spirits, too, shall quickly join, 

Like theirs with glory crowned, 
And shout to see our Captain's sign, 

To hear His trumpet sound. 
Oh ! that we now might grasp our Guide ! 

Oh ! that the w r ord were given ! 
Come, Lord of hosts ! the waves divide, 

And land us all in Heaven ! — Chas. Wesley. 



SING, FOR YOUR REDEMPTION IS NEAR. 
A king was once hunting alone in a wood, when 
he heard a very beautiful voice singing very sweet- 
ly ; he went on, and saw it was a poor leper : " How 
can you sing," he said, '-when you seem in so 
wretched a condition?" The leper replied, "It is 
because I am in this state I sing ; for, as my body 
decays, I know that the hour of my deliverance 
draws nigh, when I shall leave this miserable world, 
and go to my Lord and my God." — Rachel Gray. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 277 



" TO BE WITH CHRIST." 
" To be with Christ." Who can comprehend 
this but the Christian ? It is a heaven which world- 
lings care not for. They know not what a mass of 
glory is crowded into that one sentence — " To be 
with Christ." But to the believer the words are a 
concentration of bliss. Take only one of the many 
precious thoughts the words suggest — the sight of 
Christ. " Thine eye shall see the King in his beau- 
ty." We have heard of him, and can say, " Whom 
having not seen we love." But then we " shall see 
him." Yes, we shall actually gaze upon the exalt- 
ed Redeemer. Realize the thought. Is there not 
a heaven within it? Thou shalt see the hands 
which were nailed to the cross for thee ; thou shalt 
see the thorn-crowned head, and with all the blood- 
washed throng shalt thou bow with lowly reverence 
before him who bowed in lowly abasement for thee. 
Faith is precious, but what must sight be ? To view 
Jesus as the Lamb of God through the glass of 
faith makes the soul rejoice with joy unspeakable ; 
but oh ! to see him face to face, to look into those 
eyes, to hear that voice — rapture begins at the very 
mention of it. If even to think of it is so sweet, 
what must the vision be when we shall talk with 



278 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 

him, " even as a man talketh with his friend" — for 
the vision of Christ implies communion. All that 
which the spouse desired in Solomon's Song we 
shall have, and ten thousand times more. Then 
will the prayer be fulfilled, "Let him kiss me with 
the kisses of his mouth ; for thy love is better than 
wine." Then we shall be able to say, " His left hand 
is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace 
me." Then shall we experience the promise, " They 
shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy." 
And then we will pour out the song of gratitude, a 
song such as we have never sung on earth, tuneful, 
dulcet, pure, full of serenity and joy, no discord to 
mar its melody — a song rapt and seraphic. Happy 
day, when vision and communion shall be ours in 
fullness — when we shall know even as we are 
known ! — Charles Spurgeon. 



THE BIBLE. 
The new convert, dazzled over its pages with the 
ecstasy of his new-found hope, yet can not as deep- 
ly and ardently love it as he will do when, a gray- 
headed patriarch, years after, he turns afresh its 
wondrous leaves to adore the ever-full freshness of 
its lessons, and to remember all the lights it has 
cast upon his weary pathway. — W. R. Williams. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 279 



NEARING HE A YEN 
We read that, in certain climates of the world, the 
gales that spring from the land carry a refreshing 
smell out to sea, and assure the watchful pilot that 
he is approaching a desirable and fruitful coast, 
when as yet he can not discern it with his eyes. 
And to take up the comparison of life to a voyage, 
in like manner it fares with those who have steadily 
and religiously pursued the course which heaven 
pointed out to them. We shall sometimes find, by 
their conversation towards the end of their days, 
that they are filled with peace, and hope, and joy, 
which, like refreshing gales and reviving odors to 
the seamen, are breathed forth from Paradise upon 
their souls, and give them to understand with cer- 
tainty that God is bringing them into the desired 
haven. — J. Townson. 



HE A YEN A HOME. 
Home ! oh, how sweet is that word ! what beauti- 
ful and tender associations cluster thick around it ; 
compared with it, house, mansion, palace are cold, 
heartless terms. But home ! that word quickens 
the pulse, warms the heart, stirs the soul to its depths, 



280 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

makes age feel young again, rouses apathy into en- 
ergy, sustains the sailor in his midnight watch, in- 
spires the soldier with courage on the field of battle, 
and imparts patient endurance to the worn-down 
sons of toil. The thought of it has proved a seven- 
fold shield to virtue ; the very name of it has a spell 
to call back the wanderer from the paths of vice; 
and far away, where myrtles bloom, and palm-trees 
wave, and the ocean sleeps upon coral strands, to 
the exile's fond fancy it clothes the naked rock, or 
stormy shore, or barren moor, or wild highland 
mountain with charms he weeps to think of, and 
longs once more to see. Grace sanctifies these 
lovely affections, and imparts a sacredness to the 
homes of earth by making them types of heaven. 
As a home the believer delights to think of it. Thus, 
when lately bending over a dying saint, and express- 
ing our sorrow to see him lay so low, with the ra- 
diant countenance rather of one who had just left 
heaven than of one about to enter it, he raised and 
clasped his hands, and exclaimed in ecstasy, " I am 
going home." — Thomas Guthrie. 



Extraordinary afflictions are not always the 
punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the 
trial of extraordinary graces. — Matthew Henry. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 281 



THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL. 

Preach the Gospel to every creature — that is, go 
tell every man, without exception, whatsoever his 
sins be, whatsoever his rebellions be — go and tell 
him these glad tidings, that if he will come in, Jesus 
will accept him, his sins shall be forgiven him, and 
he shall be saved. 

The Gospel method of salvation resembles a well- 
drawn picture, which seems to look every person in 
the room in the face. In like manner, Gospel truth 
has something in it suitable to every one's case that 
reads or hears it, and that as particularly as if it 
spoke to every Gospel hearer by name. — W. Arnot. 



ASLEEP AND A WAKE. 

One should go to sleep at night as home-sick 
passengers do, saying, " Perhaps in the morning we 
shall see the shore." To us who are Christians, is 
it not a solemn, but a delightful thought, that per- 
haps nothing but the opaque bodily eye prevents us 
from beholding the gate which is open just before 
us, and nothing but the dull ear prevents us from 
hearing the ringing of those bells of joy which wel- 
come us to the heavenly land ? — H. W. Beecher. 



282 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



LOVE A SAFEG UARD. 

As we mix in life, there comes, especially to sen- 
sitive natures, a temptation to distrust. In young 
life we throw ourselves with unbounded and glorious 
confidence on such as we think well of— an error 
soon corrected, for we soon find out, too soon, that 
men and women are not what they seem. Then 
comes disappointment, and the danger is a reac- 
tion of desolating and universal distrust ; for, if we 
look on the doings of man with a mere worldly eye, 
and pierce below the surface of character, we are 
apt to feel bitter scorn and disgust for our fellow- 
creatures. We have lived to see human hollow- 
ness ; the ashes of the Dead Sea shore ; the false- 
ness of what seems so fair ; the mouldering beneath 
whited sepulchres ; and no wonder if we are tempted 
to think " friendship all a cheat ; smiles, hypocrisy ; 
words, deceit." And they who are what is called 
knowing in life contract by degrees, as the result 
of their experience, a hollow distrust of men, and 
learn to sneer at apparently good motives. That 
demoniacal sneer which we have seen, ay, perhaps 
felt, curling the lips at times, " Doth Job serve God 
for naught ?" 

The only preservation from this withering of the 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 283 

heart is love. Love is its own perennial fount of 
strength. The strength of affection is a proof, nof 
of the worthiness of the object, but of the largeness 
of the soul which loves. Love descends, not as- 
cends. The might of a river depends not on the 
quality of the soil through which it passes, but on 
the inexhaustibleness and depth of the spring from 
which it proceeds. The greater mind cleaves to 
the smaller with more force than the other to it. A 
parent loves the child more than the child the par- 
ent ; and partly because the parent's heart is larger, 
not because the child is worthier. The Savior loved 
his disciples infinitely more than his disciples him, 
because his heart was infinitely larger. Love trusts 
on — ever hopes and expects better things, and this 
a trust springing from itself and out of its own deeps 
alone. 

Therefore, come what may, hold fast to love. 
Though men should rend your heart, let them not 
embitter or harden it. We win by tenderness ; we 
conquer by forgiveness. Oh, strive to enter into 
something of that large celestial charity, which is 
meek, enduring, unretaliating, and which even the 
overbearing world can not withstand forever. Learn 
the new commandment of the Son of God. Not to 
love, but to love as he loved. Go forth in this spirit 
to your life-duties ; go forth, children of the Cross, 



28-1 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

to carry every thing before you, and win victories 
for God by the conquering power of a love like his. 
— F. W. Robertson. 



"-MORE THAN CONQUERORS:' 
The Christian is to be a conqueror at last. Do 
you think that we are forever to be the drudges and 
the slaves of sin, sighing for freedom, and yet never 
able to escape from its bondage ? No ! Soon the 
chains which confine me shall be broken, the doors 
of my prison shall be opened, and I shall mount to 
the glorious city, the abode of holiness, where I shall 
be entirely freed from sin. We who love the Lord 
are not to sojourn in Mesech for aye. The dust 
may defile our robes now, but the day is coming 
when we shall rise and shake ourselves from the 
dust, and put on our beautiful garments. It is true 
we are now like Israel in Canaan. Canaan is full 
of enemies ; but the Canaanites shall and must be 
driven out, and the whole land from Dan to Beer- 
sheba shall be the Lord's. Christians, rejoice ! You 
are soon to be perfect, soon to be free from sin, with- 
out one wrong inclination, one evil desire. You are 
soon to be as pure as the angels in light ; nay, more, 
with your Master's garments on, you are to be " holy 
as the holy One." Can you think of that ? Is it 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 285 

not the very sum of heaven, the rapture of bliss, the 
sonnet of the hill-tops of glory — that you are to be 
perfect? No temptation can reach you; nor, if the 
temptation could reach you, would you be hurt by 
it, for there will be nothing in you which could in 
any way foster sin. It would be as when a spark 
falls upon an ocean — your holiness would quench it 
in a moment. Yes, washed in the blood of Jesus, 
you are soon to walk the golden streets, white-robed 
and white-hearted too. Oh rejoice in the immediate 
prospect, and let it nerve you for the present con- 
flict. — Charles Spurgeon. 



MAKING GOB'S LAW OUR SONG. 

Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pil- 
grimage. — Psalm cxix., 54. 

Come, Christian pilgrim, and beguile your weari- 
some journey heavenward by " singing the Lord's 
song in this strange land." With the statutes of God 
in your hand and in your heart, you are furnished 
with a song for every step of your way : " The 
Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh 
me to lie down in green pastures ; he leadeth me 
beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul ; he 
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his 
name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the val- 



286 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

ley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for 
thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they com- 
fort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the 
presence of mine enemies ; thou anointest my head 
with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness 
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, 
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." 
A song such as this can not fail to smooth your 
path, and reconcile you to the many inconveniences 
of the way, while the recollection that it is here only 
"the house of your pilgrimage," and not your home, 
and " that there remaineth a rest for the people of 
God," will support the exercise of faith and patience 
to the end. The same statutes, which are the yoke 
and burden of the worldly professor, are the subject 
of the believer's daily song and the source of his 
daily comfort, leading him from pleasure to pleasure, 
and, under the cherishing vigor of gracious com- 
munications, making his way and work easy and 
prosperous. Evidently, therefore, our knowledge of 
the Lord's statutes, and our delight in them, will fur- 
nish a decisive test of our real state before God. 
But what reason have we every moment to guard 
against that debasing, stupefying influence of the 
world, which makes us forget the proper character 
of a pilgrim ! And what habitual conflict must be 
maintained with the sloth and aversion of a reluct- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 287 

ant heart to maintain our progress in the journey 
toward Zion ! 

Reader, have you entered upon a pilgrim's life ? 
Then what is your solace ? What is your refresh- 
ment on the road ? It is dull, heavy, wearisome to 
be a pilgrim without a " song ;" and yet the Lord's 
statutes must be understood and felt in all their bless- 
ed experience before they will form our song. And 
"if you have tasted that the Lord is gracious" — if 
" he has put a new song into your mouth," oh ! do 
not suffer any carelessness or neglect to rob you 
of this heavenly anticipation. Let not your lips be 
found mute. Seek to keep your heart in tune. Seek 
to maintain a lively contemplation of the place whith- 
er you are going — of him who, as your " forerunner," 
is for you entered thither — and of the prospect that, 
when he has " prepared a place for you, he will come 
again and take you to himself, that where he is, 
there you may be also." In this spirit, and in these 
hopes before you, you may take up your song, " O 
God ! my heart is fixed ; I will sing and give praise. 
I will bless the Lord at all times ; his praise shall 
continually be in my mouth." Thus may you go 
on your pilgrimage " singing in the ways of the 
Lord," and commencing a song below, which, in the 
world of praise above, shall never, never cease. — 
Charles Bridges. 



288 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



DESIGNATION. 

Stkicken, smitten, and afflicted. 
Savior, to Thy cross I cling ; 

Thou hast every blow directed, 
Thou alone canst healing bring. 

Try me till no dross remaineth ; 

And, whate'er the trial be, 
While Thy gentle arm sustaineth, 

Closer will I cling to Thee. 

Cheerfully the stern rod kissing, 
I will hush each murmuring cry ; 

Every doubt and fear dismissing, 
Passive in Thine arms will lie. 

And when, through deep seas of sorrow, 
I have gained the heavenly shore, 

Bliss from every wave I'll borrow, 
And for each will love Thee more. 



THE FULL VISION AND ENJOYMENT OF CHRIST. 

Make haste, my beloved, and take me to thyself; 
let me see thee face to face, and enjoy thee, thou 
dearest Jesus, whom my soul longeth after. It is 
good to live upon thee by faith, but to live with thee 
is best of all. I have found one day in thy courts, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 289 

conversing sweetly with thee, better than a thousand ; 
but this has only whetted my appetite ; the more 
communion I have with thee, I hunger and thirst 
still for more. My soul panteth for nearer, still 
nearer communion with thee. When shall I come 
to appear before the presence of God ? Oh thou 
light of my life, thou joy of my heart, thou knowest 
how I wish for the end of my faith, when I shall no 
longer see through a glass darkly, but with open 
face behold the glory of my Lord. Thou hast so 
endeared thyself to me, thou precious Immanuel, by 
ten thousand thousand kindnesses, that I can not be 
entirely satisfied, until I have the full vision and 
complete enjoyment of thyself The day of our es- 
pousals has been a blessed time. Oh for the mar- 
riage of the Lamb, when I shall be presented as a 
chaste virgin to my heavenly bridegroom ! How 
can I but long earnestly for "this full enjoyment of 
thy everlasting love ! Come, Lord Jesus, let me see 
thee as thou art. Come and make me like unto 
thee. I do love thee ; I am now happy in thy love ; 
but not so as I hope to be. I am often interrupted 
here, and never love thee so much as I desire ; but 
these blessed spirits, standing now round thy throne, 
are perfected in love. Oh that I was once admitted 
to see, as they do, the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ ! Is not that the voice of my beloved 



290 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

which I hear answering, Surely I come quickly ? 
Amen, say I ; even so come, Lord Jesus. Make 
haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a 
young hart upon the mountains of spices. — Wil- 
liam Romaine. 



« I AM BEAD T TO DIE." 

The Christian, at his death, should not be like the 
child who is forced by the rod to quit his play, but 
like the one who is wearied of it, and willing to go 
to bed. , Neither ought he to be like the mariner 
whose vessel, by the violence of the tempest, is drift- 
ed from the shore, tossed to and fro upon the ocean, 
and at last suffers wreck and destruction, but like 
one who is ready for the voyage, and the moment 
the wind is favorable, cheerfully weighs anchor, and, 
full of hope and joy, launches forth into the deep. 
The pious monk, Staupitz, says, " Die as Christ did, 
and then, beyond all doubt, your death will be good 
and blessed." But how, then, did Christ die ? " No 
man," he himself says, "taketh my life from me, but 
I lay it down of myself." And St. Luke tells us 
that " when the time was come that he should be 
received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Je- 
rusalem ;" that is, he took the way to it with a con- 
fident and cheerful heart and an intrepid look. Let 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 291 

us follow this great forerunner; and that we may 
do it with alacrity and confidence, and be at all times 
ready, let us so order our affairs that when we come 
to die, we may have nothing else to do. — Christian 
Scriver. 



PILGRIM'S WAY TO HEAVEN. 
That wonderful book (Pilgrim's Progress), while 
it obtains admiration from the most fastidious erit- 
?cs, is loved by those who are too simple to admire 
it. . . . . . There is no ascent, no declivity, no rest- 
ing-place, no turnstile with which we are not per- 
fectly acquainted. The wicket-gate and the desolate 
swamp which separates it from the City of Destruc- 
tion, the long line of road as straight as a rule can 
make it, the Interpreter's house and all its fair shows, 
the prisoner in the iron cage, the palace, at the doors 
of which armed men keep guard, and on the battle- 
ments of which walked persons clothed all in gold, 
the cross and the sepulchre, the steep hill and the 
pleasant arbor, the stately front of the house Beau- 
tiful by the wayside, the chained lions crouching in 
the porch, the low green valley of Humiliation, rich 
with grass and covered with flocks — all are as well 
known to us as the sights of our own street. Then 
we come to the narrow place where Apollyon strode 



292 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

right across the whole breadth of the way to stop 
the journey of Christian, and where afterwards the 
pillar was set up to testify how bravely the pilgrim 
had fought the good fight. As we advance, the val- 
ley becomes deeper and deeper, the shade of the 
precipices on both sides falls blacker and blacker. 
The clouds gather overhead. Doleful voices, the 
clanking of chains, the rushing of many feet to and 
fro, are heard through the darkness. The way, 
hardly discernible in the gloom, runs close by the 
mouth of the burning pit, which sends forth its flames, 
its noisome smoke, and its hideous shapes to terrify 
the traveler. Thence he goes on amidst the snares 
and pitfalls, with the mangled bodies of those who 
have perished in the ditch by his side. At the end 
of the long dark valley he passes the dens in which 
the old giants dwelt, amidst the bones of those whom 
they had slain. 

Then the road passes straight on through a waste 
moor, till at length the towers of a distant city ap- 
pear before the traveler, and soon he is in the midst 
of the innumerable multitudes of Vanity Fair. 
There are the jugglers and the apes, the show T s and 
the puppet-shows. There are Italian Row, and 
French Row, and Spanish Row, and British Row, 
with their crowds of buyers, sellers, loungers, jabber- 
ing all the languages of the earth. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 293 

Thence we go on by the little hill of the silver 
mine, and through the meadow of lilies, along the 
bank of that pleasant river which is bordered on 
both sides by fruit-trees. On the left branches off 
the path leading to the horrible castle, the court-yard 
of which is paved with the skulls of pilgrims ; and 
right onward are the sheep-folds and orchards of 
the Delectable Mountains. 

From the Delectable Mountains the way lies 
through the fogs and briers of the enchanted ground, 
with here and there a bed of soft cushions spread 
under a green arbor. And beyond is the land of 
Beulah. where the flowers, the grapes, and the song 
of birds never cease, and where the sun shines night 
and day. Thence are plainly seen the golden pave- 
ments and streets of pearl on the other side of that 
black and cold river over which there is no bridge. 
— T. B. Macaulay. 



THE PIL GEIM'S PR A YEP. 

Guide Hie, O Thou great Jehovah ! 

Pilgrim through this barren land ; 
I am weak, but Thou art mighty ; 

Hold me with Thy powerful hand ! 
Bread of Heaven ! Bread of Heaven ! 
Feed me now, and evermore. 



294 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

Open now the crystal Fountain 

Whence the healing streams do flow ; 

Let the fiery, cloudy pillar 

Lead me all my journey through ; 

Strong Deliverer ! Strong Deliverer ! 

Be Thou still my strength and shield. 

When I tread the verge of Jordan, 
Bid my anxious fears subside ; 

Death of death, and Hell's destruction, 
Land me safe on Canaan's side ; 
Songs of praises, songs of praises, 

I will ever give to Thee. — William Williams, 



BEGINNING OF HEAVEN 
The joys of heaven will begin as soon as we at- 
tain the character of heaven and do its duties. That 
may begin to-day. It is everlasting life to know 
God — to have his spirit dwelling in you — yourself 
at one with him. Try that and prove its worth. 
Justice, usefulness, wisdom, religion, love, are the 
best things we hope for in heaven. Try them on — 
they will fit you here not less beseemingly. They 
are the best things of earth. Think no outlay of 
goodness and piety too great. You will find your re- 
ward begin here. As much goodness and piety, so 
much heaven. Men will not pay you — God will pay 
you now, pay you hereafter and forever. — T. Parker. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 295 



THE DEATH OF THE BELIEVER. 
The death of the believer is always glorious, and 
the difference between the circumstances of the de- 
parture of the prophet Elijah and those of the serv- 
ants of God in all ages is not so great as might at 
first be supposed. In the rapture of Elijah there 
was only seen a little more than usual of that which 
is true in fact, but which is concealed to the eye of 
sense in the death of every believer. The spirit of 
the departing saint is not left to wing a solitary flight 
to the distant regions of bliss, but an angel escort is 
sent even for the humblest. At the cotter's door — 
by the bedside of the prisoner in his lonely cell — 
amid the smoke and flame of the battle-field, or the 
darkness of the storms in mid-ocean, as well as in 
the peaceful dwelling or gilded palace, there stands 
in waiting for the expiring saint the shining escort 
— the chariot of fire and horses of fire, to waft the 
soul away to heaven. True, in the case of Elijah, 
as an especial honor to one who had especially hon- 
ored him, God sent his flaming ministers a little far- 
ther on the road of life to receive him than he is ac- 
customed to do for others; but the same dazzling 
chariot, the same flaming steeds stand in waiting, just 
outside the gates of sense, at the departure of every 



296 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

faithful servant of God ; and the dying saint no 
sooner drops the mantle of his earthly body than, 
like Elijah, his soul steps into the shining equipage, 
and angel spirits hurry it with the speed of the whirl- 
wind into the presence of the Lord. 

You say this rapture of the glorified prophet was 
not death, and you say truly ; and the departure of 
the believer is not death. It is said of him that he 
shall never see death. The believer in Jesus hath 
already entered upon life eternal. " He that believ- 
eth hath life" — yes, hath it already, and he can never 
see death. 

" No, no — it is not dying 
To go unto our God, 
This gloomy earth forsaking, 
Our journey homeward taking, 
Along the starry road. 7 ' 

No, this is not death. To many a Christian, we 
have reason to believe, the gates of Paradise stand 
open before the golden chain is broken, and he be- 
gins to enjoy conscious angelic companionship and 
felicity before his countenance changes or his heart 
ceases to beat. But with all alike the transition is 
instantaneous, and the moment the ear ceases to 
hear the sobs of mourning friends, it catches the 
hallelujahs of the world of glory. — John Stanford 
Holme. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 297 



SPIRITUAL FELL WSHIP WITS THE LOVED AND 

THE LOST. 

That which is most valuable and lovely of life on 
earth — sanctified friendship — can not be said to die 
with those we love ; but, through their death, it is 
rather raised to a higher and more influential life. 
By the transfer of our loved ones to heaven, our 
friendship becomes spiritualized and perpetuated. 
Our friends live in such circumstances, and in such 
relation to us, that their spirit, and faith, and love 
should exert more influence upon us than ever. 
" Being dead, they yet speak" — speak to us in such 
tones as should only the more command attention 
and charm the ear. A holy life has been com- 
pared ta a song — a song of praise, and there is 
something not only beautiful, but very striking in 
the simile. A song hath its lower and its higher 
notes, but they are all pitched to one key ; and so 
the life of the Christian hath its lower notes of sor- 
row and its higher notes of joy, but they, too, are 
all set to the one key-note — the love of God in 
Christ ; and thus, together, they make up the mel- 
ody of a holy life — a life in Christ. 

This melody does not cease with this life, nor 

does it cease to awaken its echoes in the heart of 

U 



298 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 

loved ones when the singer is lost to sight through 
death ; but it continues to come floating down to us 
from the heavenly world like the song of the sky- 
lark, only rendered more sweet and enchanting by 
distance. I shall never forget my own first impres- 
sion of the morning song of the English skylark. 
In my zeal as a traveler to see all that could be seen, 
I had arisen with the sun, and had wandered off 
alone over the hills surrounding the old city of Win- 
chester and its grand cathedral. The rays of the 
rising sun had changed the dew-drops into diamonds, 
and the early breeze had awakened the lark both to 
song and to flight ; for as this almost spirit-bird be- 
gins to sing, it commences also mounting upon its 
wings, and, mounting, it continues to sing, and, sing- 
ing, it continues to mount higher and still higher, as 
if it had truly bid adieu to earth, as Jeremy Taylor 
has it, and had gone to mingle with the choirs of 
heaven. At last I could no longer see the bird. Its 
form was entirely lost to my vision, but its song 
was still heard ; its glad notes still came floating 
down from heaven like the music of an angel, and 
charmed my heart the more, since my eye could no 
longer discern the singer. Such is the song of a 
holy life ; for the Christian, as he commences the 
song of the new life, commences his upward course, 
and his song grows sweeter as he rises; and it is 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 299 

never so sweet, so moving, so attractive as when 
the singer is lost to human vision, and the notes 
come floating down to us from the upper spirit- 
world. Listen ! Can we not even now hear some 
notes of the life-song of some departed loved one ? 
If the ear is too dull to catch the spirit-strains, can 
not the heart discern the melody, and is there not 
awakened within us kindred harmonies ? They tell 
us that when two lutes are attuned to the same key, 
and placed near each other, when one is struck the 
other is heard to send forth notes and tones of kin- 
dred harmony. May not our spirits be thus so 
nearly attuned to the same key with those of our 
loved ones who have gone before to heaven, and 
may we not draw so near to them in spiritual union 
and sympathy that, even while we are yet upon the 
earth, our souls may send forth occasional strains 
at least of that song which fills all hearts, and occu- 
pies all voices in the choirs of the redeemed ? Yes, 
yes, it is even so. 

" Their song to us descendeth ; 

The spirit who in them did sing, 
To us his music lendeth ; 

His song in them, in us, is one ; 
We raise it high, we send it on — 
The song that never endeth." 

J. Stanford Holme. 



300 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



COMMUNION WITH GOD A PREPARATION FOR 

DEATH 

It is, I believe, an undoubted truth that, in pro- 
portion as any one draws near to God, and thinks 
of him, and prays to him constantly and earnestly, 
so does he become familiar with the life beyond the 
grave, and finds it possible and natural to fix his 
faith there. For with God continually in our 
thoughts — God in Christ I mean, for a Christian 
knows God no otherwise than as approached 
through his Son — with God constantly thought of, 
praised, thanked, and served, it is impossible that 
death should any longer be so great a barrier, or 
the state beyond it so dark and cheerless. For to 
God there is no difference of time or state. He is, 
after our death as before it, before it as after it, in 
all respects the same. And death, which to him is 
absolutely nothing, becomes to us also less and less 
in proportion as we are more entirely his. So it is 
said that Enoch walked with God ; and then it is 
added, "And he was not, for God took him." He 
walked with God on earth, and he walked with God 
in heaven, and the two became blended in one, and 
the barrier between them melted away into nothing. 
This is a true type, showing that the sense of death 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 301 

is destroyed by our consciousness of God. He who 
walks with God faithfully here, all that is said of 
him will be, " He was not, for God took him." He 
will be missed here by us, but to himself it is in a 
manner all but one life, the latter part the more per- 
fect and the happier, yet both were passed with God. 
Again, all that has been said tends to that same 
conclusion on which I have dwelt so often — the one 
conclusion, " Let us pray." Let us pray : if we have 
prayed hitherto, let us pray the more ; if we have 
not, then let us begin to pray. Remember that we 
may pray not merely as God's creatures, but as his 
children. This is our Christian privilege ; this 
Christ's death has purchased for us. We may pray 
to God as his children. Where, then, is fear? 
Where is doubt ? Where ought to be coldness ? 
More certainly than our fathers and mothers love 
us does God the Most High love us, even us — so 
humble, so sinful. And this is the most simple truth 
in the world, although it sounds like the loftiest 
flight of fancy — it is really and actually true. 
Wherefore let us pray to God in Christ continu- 
ally; and so we shall learn, like the patriarchs, to 
live in faith and to die in faith. — Thomas Arnold. 



Grace withereth without adversity. 



302 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



A BIGHT WELL-PLEASING TO GOD. 
To see a Christian mind encountering some great 
affliction, and conquering it ; to see his valor in not 
sinking at the hardest distresses of life, this is a 
sight which God delights to behold. It were no 
hard condition to have a trial now and then, with 
long ease and prosperity between ; but to be plied 
with one affliction at the heels of another ; to have 
them come thronging in multitudes, and of different 
kinds, this is that which is often the portion of those 
who are the beloved of God. — Robert Leighton, 



HEAVEN A CITY. 

A city never built with hands, nor hoary with the 
years of time ; a city whose inhabitants no census 
has numbered; a city through whose streets rush 
no tide of business, nor nodding hearse creeps slow- 
ly with its burden to the tomb ; a city without griefs 
or graves, without sins or sorrows, without births or 
burials, without marriages or mournings ; a city 
which glories in having Jesus for its king, angels 
for its guards, saints for citizens; whose walls are 
salvation, and whose gates are praise. — Thomas 
Guthrie. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 303 



LAST VICTORY. 
" Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is 
written, Death is swallowed up in victory!' " So 
let all thine enemies perish, oh Christ;" and "let 
them that love thee be as the sun, when he goeth 
forth in his might." They shall be this, for they 
shall be sons of light, "being children of the resurrec- 
tion, and shall shine as the stars, and as the bright- 
ness of the firmament, forever and ever." As a 
wreck may sink in the sea, and the ocean close over 
it so that not a vestige of its existence shall remain, 
nor a ripple on the surface tell that it was, so shall 
mortality be swallowed up of life — immortal life — 
life sinless, God-like, divine. Nor shall there be 
wanting the voice of rejoicing, as heard at the ter- 
mination of successful war, for "death shall be swal- 
lowed up in victory!' — Thomas Binney. 



CARING FOR THE FUTURE. 
Men fall into the great mistake, on this subject, 
of supposing that to look forward must mean to 
look anxiously forward. It is just as easy to look 
forward with hope as with sadness. And God's 
Word does not teach us that we are not to plan 



304 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

and forelook, but that we are not to plan and fore- 
look with a spirit of anxious, mischievous, annoying 
fear. That is forbidden. Asceticism of every kind 
is against the Word of God. That is asceticism 
which leads a man to torment himself on account 
of the future — which leads a man to use the future 
as a whip to flagellate himself with. That is for- 
bidden. It is not using the future ; it is rather abus- 
ing it. — H. W. Beecher. 



THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM. 
When the days of Abraham, the man of God and 
hero of faith, drew toward a close, he laid himself 
down upon his quiet bed, full of years, and satisfied 
with life, and summoned his children and grandchil- 
dren ; and they stood in a circle around him. Then 
the old man spake with serene aspect, and said, " My 
children, the God in whom I have believed now calls 
me to himself;" and he blessed them. His children, 
however, wept, saying, " Oh that the hour might nev- 
er come !" But he replied, "No, my dears. I have 
walked as a child before him all the days of my life 
in truth and love ; why should I now, when he calls, 
delay to go to him ?" So saying, he bowed his head 
and gave up the ghost, and the form of death was 
as if one slumbered. — F. W. Krummacher. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 305 



BE A UTT OF OLD A GE. 

The scathed and leafless tree may seem 

Old age's mournful sign, 
Yet on its bark may sunshine gleam, 

And moonlight softly shine. 

Thus on the cheek of age shall rest 

The light of days gone by, 
Calm as the glories of the "West, 

When night is drawing nigh. 

As round the scathed trunk fondly clings 

The ivy green and strong, 
Repaying, by the grace it brings, 

The succor granted long, 

So round benevolent old age 

May objects yet survive, 
Whose greenness can the heart engage, 

And keep the soul alive. — Bernard Barton. 



AGED AND HELPLESS. 

In age and feebleness extreme, 
Who shall a helpless worm redeem % 
Jesus, my only hope Thou art, 
Strength of my failing flesh and heart ; 
Oh, could I catch a smile from Thee, 
And drop into eternity ! 



306 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



HE A YEN L OKED FOB WARD TO. 

There is a land of pure delight, 

Where saints immortal reign, 
Infinite day excludes the night, 

And pleasures banish pain. 

There everlasting spring abides, 

And never withering flowers ; 
Death, like a narrow sea, divides 

This heavenly land from ours. 

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood 

Stand dressed in living green ; 
So to the Jews old Canaan stood, 

While Jordan rolled between. 

But timorous mortals start and shrink 

To cross this narrow sea, 
And linger shivering on the brink, 

And fear to launch away. 

Oh, could we make our doubts remove, 

These gloomy doubts that rise, 
And see the Canaan that we love 

With unbeclouded eyes ; 

Could we but climb where Moses stood, 

And view the landscape o'er, 
Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood 

Should fright us from the shore. — Isaac Watts, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 30' 



NEABNESS OF HEAVEN. 
The nearness of heaven is suggested by the epi- 
thet " veil." Christians, there is only a veil between 
us and heaven ! A veil is the thinnest and frailest 
of all conceivable partitions. It is but a fine tissue, 
a delicate fabric of embroidery. It waves in the 
wind ; the touch of a child may stir it, and accident 
may rend it ; the silent action of time will moulder 
it away. The veil that conceals heaven is only our 
embodied existence, and, though fearfully and won- 
derfully made, it is only wrought out of our frail 
mortality. So slight is it that the puncture of a 
thorn, the touch of an insect's sting, the breath of an 
infected atmosphere, may make it shake and fall. 
In a bound, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 
in the throb of a pulse, in the flash of a thought, we 
may start into disembodied spirits, glide unabashed 
into the company of great and mighty angels, pass 
into the light and amazement of eternity, know 7 the 
great secret, gaze upon splendors which flesh and 
blood could not sustain, and which no words law- 
ful for man to utter could describe ! Brethren in 
Christ, there is but a step between you and death ; 
between you and heaven there is but a veil.— C 
Stanford. 



308 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



GAIN OF DYING. 
Throughout the Bible it is declared that the things 
that we are permitted to see in this life are but imita- 
tions, glimpses of what we shall see hereafter. " It 
doth not yet appear what we shall be." There are 
times when it seems as though our circumstances, 
our nature, all the processes of our being, conspired 
to make us joyful here, yet the apostle says we now 
see " through a glass darkly." What, then, must be 
the vision which we shall behold when we go to that 
place above where we shall see face to face ? What 
a land of glory have you sent your babies into ! 
What a land of delight have you sent your children 
and companions into ! What a land of blessedness 
are you yourselves coming to by-and-by ! Men talk 
about dying as though it was going toward a deso- 
late place. AH the past in a man's life is down hill 
and toward gloom, and all the future of man's life is 
up hill and toward glorious sunrising. There is but 
one luminous point, and that is the home toward 
which we are tending, above all storms, above all 
sin and peril. Dying is glorious crowning ; living 
is yet toiling. If God be yours, all things are yours. 
Live while you must, yet yearn for the day of con- 
summation, when the door shall be thrown open, 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 309 

and the bird may fly out of his netted cage, and be 
heard singing in higher spheres and diviner realms. 
— H. W. Beecher. 



THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN. 
And there truly is nothing which should keep 
your desires from heaven. No ; not that delightful 
circle of home where the parent's eye may glisten 
as he looks upon his child, and the child may smile 
with joy because it gazes on its father ; or, more 
loving still, when it looks upon its mother — there is 
naught even there which can abstract the desires 
from heaven ; and the only modification of that de- 
sire should be that children, and parents, and breth- 
ren, and sisters should all meet in heaven. No ; 
there is nothing, when here we meet round the table 
of the Lord, and Christian comes by Christian to 
taste the bread and wine which shows forth the 
Lord's death till he comes — till we all meet as by 
one electric impulse upon the spirit — till we all blend 
together in one, being members of his body, and his 
flesh, and his bone — there is nothing here that can 
abstract the desires from heaven; the only modifi- 
cation of that desire must be that those who break 
the bread and drink the wine may have fulfilled at 
last the glorious promise, " Verily, I will no more 



310 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

taste of the fruit of the vine until that day when 1 
drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." 
Onward and onward still, from year to year, and 
from day to day, must the Christian spirit press in 
its desire toward heaven. It will be, my brethren, 
but a little longer, and then that desire shall be ful- 
filled, and mortality will be swallowed up in life. 
The portal shall be entered, and the spirit shall gaze 
round on the wonders of its completed salvation. 
What pearly gates are these ? What jasper walls 
are these ? What golden streets are these ? What 
splendid palaces are these ? What immortal trees 
are these ? What crystal streams are these ? What 
amaranthine bowers are these ? These are the spir- 
its of the just, and I see my parents, my partner, and 
my children, and they beckon to the entrance. There 
is Jesus, whom my soul hath loved, and now I be- 
hold him with the glory of his Godhead. And there 
is the overshadowing splendor of everlasting hap- 
piness, which breathes blessings on all beneath it. 
And this — this is heaven ! Earth, I have nothing to 
do with thee, with thy dull days and thy nights of 
darkness. I have left thee, with thy storms and 
tempests — with thy distressing temptations and thy 
polluting scenes. I have left thee, with thy sor- 
rows, thy bereavements, thy diseases, and thy desti- 
nies. This — this is heaven ! Am I come there ? 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 311 

Then redemption and immortality are mine. Oh, 
brethren, in the body or out of the body, can we 
tell ? Have not your desires expanded and ex- 
tended till even now you listen to the song, and in- 
hale the atmosphere of heaven ? We must come 
back again to earth till the will of God removes 
us ; but as we descend to the world of mortality, and 
of sorrow, and of sin, in which we must breathe a 
little longer, we can not but send our desires to him 
who has gone before us, " When shall I come and 
appear before God ?" " Oh that I had the wings of 
a dove, then I would flee away and be at rest !" — 
James Parsons. 



THE MUSIC OF HEAVEN. 
We may judge by the saints here, when they are 
in a fit disposition to praise God, what fervors they 
feel in their united praises of him in heaven. The 
psalmist, in an ecstasy, calls to all the parts of the 
world to join with him : " The Lord reigns ; let the 
heavens rejoice, and the earth be glad ; let the sea 
roar, let the fields be joyful, and all that dwell there- 
in." He desires that nature should be elevated above 
itself, that the dead parts be inspired with life, the 
insensible feel motions of joy, and those that want 
a voice break forth in praises to adorn the divine 



312 LIGHT AT E VENING TIME. 

triumph. With what life and alacrity will the saints 
in the blessed communion celebrate the object of 
their love and praises ! The seraphim about the 
throne " cried to one another" to express their zeal 
and joy in celebrating his eternal purity and power, 
and the glory of his goodness. Oh! the unspeaka- 
ble pleasure of this concert, when every soul is har- 
monious, and contributes his part to the full music 
of heaven ! Oh, could we hear but some echo of 
those songs wherewith the heaven of heavens re- 
sounds, some remains of those voices wherewith 
the saints above " triumph in the praises" in the sol- 
emn adoration of the King of Spirits, how would it 
inflame our desires to be joined with them ? "Bless- 
ed are those that are in thy house; they always 
praise thee." — William Bates. 



SERVICE OF HEA VEK 

They serve God. " They cry with a loud voice, 
saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb !" They are before the 
throne of God, and " serve him day and night in his 
temple." Adoration at the throne, activity in the 
temple — the worship of the heart, the worship of 
the voice, the worship of the hands, the whole be- 
ing consecrated and devoted to God — those are 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 313 

the services of the upper sanctuary. Here the flesh 
is often wearied with an hour of worship ; there 
"they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, 
holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and 
is to come." Here a week will often see us weary 
in well doing ; there they are drawn on by its own 
deliciousness to larger and larger fulfillments of Je- 
hovah's will. Here we must lure ourselves to work 
by the prospect of rest hereafter ; there the toil is 
luxury, and the labor recreation, and nothing but ju- 
bilees of praise, and holidays of higher service, are 
wanted to diversify the long and industrious Sab- 
bath of the skies ; and it matters not though some- 
times the celestial citizens are represented as always 
singing, and sometimes as always flying ; some- 
times as always working, sometimes as always 
resting, for there work is rest, and every moment 
song ; and the " many mansions" may be one tem- 
ple, and the whole being of its worshipers one tune 
— one mighty anthem, long as eternity, and large as 
its burden, the praise of the great Three-One — the 
self- renewing and ever -sounding hymn, in which 
the flight of every seraph, of every raptured spirit, 
is a several note, and repeats ever over again, "Holy, 
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, 

and is to come." — J. Hamilton. 

X 



314: LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE NOB FORSAKE THEE 

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word ; 
What more can He say than to you He hath said, 
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled: 

Fear not, I am with thee ; oh be not dismayed, 
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid ; 
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, 
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand. 

When through the deep waters I call thee to go, 
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow ; 
For I will be with thee thy trials to bless, 
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. 

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, 
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply ; 
The flame shall not hurt thee ; I only design 
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine. 

E'en down to old age all my people shall prove 
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love ; 
And then, when gray hairs shall their temples adorn, 
Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne. 

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, 
I will not — I will not desert to his foes ; 
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, 
I'll never — no, never — no, never forsake. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 315 



THE CHAMBER OF SICKNESS. 

Chamber of sickness ! much to thee I owe, 

Though dark thou be ; 
The lessons it imports me most to know 

I owe to thee. 
A sacred seminary thou hast been, 
I trust, to train me to a happier scene. 

Chamber of sickness ! suffering and alone, 

My friends withdrawn, 
The blessed beams of heavenly truth have shone 

On me forlorn 
With such a hallowed vividness and power 
As ne'er were granted to a brighter hour. 

Chamber of sickness ! midst thy silence oft 

A voice is heard, 
Which, though it falls like dew on flowers, so soft 

Yet speaks each word 
Into the aching heart's unseen recess, 
With power no earthly accents could possess. 

Chamber of sickness ! in that bright abode 

Where is no pain, 
If, through the merits of my Savior God, 

A seat I gain, 
This theme shall tune my golden harp's soft lays, 
That in thy shelter passed my early days. — Anon. 



316 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 



WAYS OF GOD. 

God often lets his people reach the shore as on 
planks of a shipwrecked vessel. He deprives us of 
the cisterns, in order to make us drink out of the 
fountains of waters. He frequently takes away our 
supports, not that we may fall to the ground, but that 
he may himself become our rod and our staff. The 
embarrassments of his people are only the festive 
scaffoldings on which his might, his faithfulness, and 
his mercy celebrate their triumphs. — F. W. Krum- 
macher. 



PA TIL'S, ESTIMATE OF HE A YEN. 

" I reckon," he says, like a man skilled in spiritu- 
al arithmetic, " I reckon," after a due estimate of 
their comparative value, " that the sufferings of this 
present time are not worthy to be compared with 
the glory that shall be revealed." 

No man was ever so well qualified to make this 
estimate. Of the sufferings of the present world he 
had shared more largely than any other man. Of 
the glory that shall be revealed, he had a glimpse 
granted to no other man. He had heard the words 
of God, and seen the vision of the Almighty, and 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 317 

the result of this privileged experience was, he " de- 
sired to depart and be with Christ ;" he desired to 
escape from this valley of tears ; he was impatient 
to recover the celestial vision, eager to perpetuate 
the momentary foretaste of the glories of immor- 
tality. — Hannah More. 



NOT IMP A TIENT, B UT READ Y. 

" Are you not weary for your heavenly rest ?" 
said Whitefield one day to an old clergyman. " No, 
certainly not," he replied. "Why not?" "Why, 
my good friend," said the old minister, "if you were 
to send your servant into the fields to do a certain 
portion of work for you, and promised to give him 
rest and refreshment in the evening, what would you 
say if you found him languid and discontented in 
the middle of the day, and murmuring, ' Would God 
it were evening ?' Would you not bid him be up 
and doing, and finish his work, and then go home 
and get the promised rest ? Just so does God say 
to you." 

Let us take the full comfort of this fact, that we 
are servants, and have really no work of our own to 
do — nothing which we are striving to accomplish 
on our own account. — Anon. 



318 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 



DA VIB'S HARP (A PABABLE). 

One day David, the king of Israel, sat on the hill 
of Sion ; his harp rested before him, and he leaned 
his head on the harp. 

The Prophet Gad came to him and said, "Of 
what are you thinking, my king ?" 

David answered and said, " Of my perpetually 
changing lot. How many hymns of thanksgiving 
and rejoicing, but, also, how many plaintive and 
mournful odes, have I sung with this harp !" 

" Be thou like thy harp !" said the prophet. 

"What do you mean?" asked the king. 

" Behold," answered the man of God, " thy sorrow, 
as thy joy, elicited heavenly tones from thy harp, 
and animated its strings; so may sorrow and joy 
form thy heart and life to the heavenly harp." 

Then David arose and struck the strings. — F. W. 
Krummacher. 



INQ UIBIES AB UT HE A VEN. 

" My chief conception of heaven," said Robert 

Hall to Wilberforce, " is rest." " Mine," said Wil- 

berforce, " is love." Perhaps both conceptions were 

true ; and union of perfect love with perfect rest 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 319 

conveys our best idea of heaven, considered simply 
as a state. But what is the manner of existence 
there, and what is the true physical theory of anoth- 
er life ? How shall we see without these eyes, hear 
without these ears, act without this material instru- 
ment of being ? What are the visions, the emotions, 
the specific employment of heaven ? Where and 
what is the region itself? Is it a star ? Is it a sun ? 
Is it a vast and splendid cluster of worlds, or is it 
some spacious, magnificent, and unlimited continent 
of light and beauty ? Where are " the holy places 
not made with hands ?" Where are the " many man- 
sions of our Father's house ?" Where is the grand 
metropolis of God's moral rule, whence his laws go 
forth, and whither the tribes go up, " the tribes of the 
Lord," from every realm of earth, and every age of 
time ? Where stands that throne before which, at 
this solemn instant, the innumerable companies of 
the glorified bend in an ecstasy of adoration ? The 
Heir of Glory dies — " he giveth up the ghost, and 
where is he ?" These questions are unanswered 
and unanswerable. 

" He that hath found some fledged bird's nest may know 
At first sight if the bird be flown ; 
But what fair field or grove he sings in now, 
That is to him unknown." 

C. Stanford. 



320 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME: 



FRIENDSHIPS OF HEAVEN 
Man is constituted to be happy in society. Place 
him in solitude, and, however exciting and felicitous 
are his circumstances in other respects, he will with- 
er and pine away. But above, we shall be with 
many that shall come from the east and west, and 
north and south, and shall sit down with Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob. The entire heaven of angels, and 
the whole host of the redeemed, we shall have sweet 
and improving fellowship with forever ! The wise 
and the good, the great and the pure, the benevolent 
and active, from every region, will be our compan- 
ions and associates, with whom we shall live, and 
love, and know, and obey, through one eternally en- 
during day. Of all the afflictions to which we are 
liable, there is none so painful as the death of our 
friends. And oh ! what a consoling balm is the 
doctrine that we shall, in the realms above, be re- 
stored to their fellowship. This doctrine is involved 
in many passages of Scripture : in the account of 
the last judgment day — in the language of David on 
the occasion of the death of his infant child by Bath- 
sheba — in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus 
— in the consolation which our Savior gives to the 
penitent sinner on the cross — in the assurance ad- 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 321 

ministered by the apostle St. Paul to the Thessalo- 
nian believers, that they should be his joy and crown 
of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ 
at his coming, and in the same apostle forbidding 
them to sorrow for such as had fallen asleep as 
though they had no hope of being united with them, 
and of being together with the Lord — and in the 
general use which the sacred writers make of the 
word sleep for death — a simile which would be fla- 
grantly incorrect if our recollections, our friendships 
and affections, were not renewed in a future state. 
And, in general, the same doctrine is taught also 
through the whole book of the Revelations of St. 
John. Happy prospect, that exalts friendship into 
religion ! What blest society there will be above 1 
— J. Beaumont. 



FORETOKENS OF HEAVEN 
Let the traveler, however remote his stray, find 
something congenial to his own latitude and coun- 
try, and the sense of alienation is redeemed. Should 
he unexpectedly discover the daisy of his native 
fields, or catch the wood-note that had caroled from 
his native groves — should he hear his mother 
tongue — should he enjoy the right and protection 
of some institution at which his youthful heart had 



322 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

learned to bound — though the earth's diameter 
struck through between his sojourn and his own 
land, even that sojourn would be less to him than 
home. And the Christian has now much akin to 
heaven. His heart is there. Eternal life abides in 
him. Now he possesses the principles which heav- 
en but matures, and cherishes the affections which 
it but expands. — R. W. Hamilton. 



"it is well:" 

A poor wayfarer, leading by the hand 

A little child, had halted by a well, 
To wash from off her feet the clinging sand, 
And tell the tired boy of that bright land 

Where, this long journey past, they longed to dwell. 

When, lo ! the Lord who many mansions had, 
Drew near, and looked upon the suffering twain: 

Then pitying spoke : " Give me the little lad ; 

In strength renewed, and glorious beauty clad, 
I'll bring him with me when I come again." 

Did she make answer selfishly and wrong — 

" Nay, but the woes I feel he too must share !" 
Oh rather, bursting into grateful song, 
She went her way rejoicing, and made strong 
To struggle on, since he was freed from care. 

Anon. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 323 



I WO ULD NOT LIVE AL WA Y. 

I would not live alway : I ask not to stay 
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way ; 
The few lurid mornings that dawn on us here, 
Are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer. 

I would not live alway ; no — welcome the tomb, 
Since Jesus hath lain there, I dread not its gloom ; 
There, sweet be my rest, till He bid me arise 
To hail Him in triumph descending the skies. 

Who, who would live alway, away from his God ; 
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode, 
Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains, 
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns : 

Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, 
Their Savior and brethren, transported to greet ; 
While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 
And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul! 

Wm. A. Muhlenbukg. 



FULLNESS OF JOT AT G OD '£ RIGHT HAND. 

I have found it an interesting thing to stand on 

the edge of a noble rolling river, and to think that, 

although it has been flowing on for six thousand 

years, watering the fields, and slaking the thirst of a 



324 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

hundred generations, it shows no signs of waste or 
want; and when I have watched the rise of the sun 
as he shot above the crest of the mountain, or in a 
sky draped with golden curtains sprang up from his 
ocean bed, I have wondered to think that he has 
melted the snows of so many winters, and renewed 
the verdure of so many springs, and painted the 
flowers of so many summers, and ripened the gold- 
en harvests of so many autumns, and yet shines as 
brilliant as ever, his eye not dim, nor his natural 
strength abated, nor his floods of light less full for 
centuries of boundless profusion. Yet what are 
these but images of the fullness that is in Christ ? 
Let that feed your hopes, and cheer your hearts, and 
brighten your faith, and send you away this day 
happy and rejoicing. For when judgment flames 
have licked up that flowing stream, and the light of 
that glorious sun shall be quenched in darkness, or 
veiled in the smoke of a burning world, the fullness 
that is in Christ shall flow on throughout eternity in 
the bliss of the redeemed. Blessed Savior, image 
of God, divine Redeemer, in thy presence is fullness 
of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for ev- 
ermore. What thou hast gone to heaven to pre- 
pare, may we be called up at death to enjoy. — T. 
Guthrie. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME, 325 



LONGING FOB HEAVEN 

It appears from the life of the poet Southey that 
he had at times a wish to leave the world, but it 
seems to have been chiefly for the sake of enjoying 
the intellectual society of a future state. Heaven 
was, in his view, the home of genius, where all the 
gifted spirits of our race hold exalted fellowship. 
He longed to see and converse with Shakspeare, 
Dante, and Chaucer. John Foster, a man whose 
character and thoughts were cast in a far different 

o 

mould, felt in this world that he was under restraint; 
that the great secrets of the spiritual universe were 
hid from him ; that death would break down the bar- 
rier, and would give his spirit free scope to plunge 
into the mysteries of truth. His sublime soul was 
like a courser panting to leap the barrier; like an 
eagle dragging at its chain, and longing to soar 
above the clouds. Leighton's desire was strictly 
and simply spiritual. It was a longing for purity, 
love, perfection, Christ, and God. He felt this was 
a dark world because a sinful one, and he longed 
for a holy heaven more than they who watch for the 
morning, saying, " The utmost we poor mortals can 
attain to is to lie awake in the dark; and a great 
piece of art and patience is to while away the hours 



326 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

of night." He delighted in the old apothegm, " The 
day which you fear as the death-day of time is the 
birthday of eternity." His alacrity to depart result- 
ed from his earnest desire to see and enjoy perfec- 
tion, in the perfect sense of it, which he could not do 
and live. — J. Stoughton. 



UNANS WEEED PEA YEB. 

The case of the apostle is an undoubted instance 
of "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man" 
not " availing" for the object desired ; in other words, 
it teaches us that the precept of our Lord, " Ask, 
and it shall be given you," must not be understood 
as promising a direct answer to every prayer, but 
as expressing the certainty that he who knows our 
infirmities before we ask, and our ignorance in ask- 
ing, will, in the end, supply our needs with all that 
we require, though not with all that we desire, or 
think that we require. 

The apostle prayed not for wealth, or honor, or 
wisdom, but simply that a great impediment to his 
usefulness might be removed ; and even this was 
not granted. And, in like manner, a greater than 
the apostle had " offered up prayers and supplica- 
tions with strong crying and tears," earnestly and 
in an agony, and the sweat, as it were great drops 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 327 

of blood, falling down to the ground, saying, " Father, 
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," and yet 
the cup was not removed, and the prayer was not 
granted. If the prayer of Paul and the prayer of 
Christ were refused, none need complain or be per- 
plexed. — Arthur P. Stanley. 



« THE CLOUD OF WITNESSES:' 
Surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses, which 
includes all the illustrious dead, cheered by the pres- 
ence of angels and glorified spirits, fanned and waft- 
ed by the wing of some brighter seraph, with the 
glory of the throne streaming upon our vision, and 
with the melody of heaven falling upon our ears, let 
us rise and hasten forward in our course. If it be 
that, in the new song of that world — the song of re- 
demption — the sweet singer of Israel " is sweeping 
a harp far more melodious and tuneful than the one 
he swept with a master hand on earth; if Elijah is 
there, pouring " his soul of fire into it ;" if Isaiah, rapt 
in seraphic flame, is giving to it " a loftier echo ;" if 
Paul is there, mingling his mighty ascriptions of 
glory and of praise ; if John is ever breathing into 
it his full heart of love ; if "the martyrs, those wit- 
nesses for the truth who passed through the flames 
for their reward," are furnishing " new accession to 



328 LIGHT AT E VENING TIME. 

its strength ;" if all the redeemed are adding to its 
volume and its grandeur, then let us never pause 
till our feet shall stand on that mount of God, and our 
voices blend in that one sweetest of all notes, "Unto 
him that loved us, and hath washed us from our sins 
in his blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto 
God. even his Father — unto him be glory and do- 
minion forever and ever. Amen." — R. Ferguson. 



CAST THY BURDEN ON THE LORD. 

Hast thou a care whose pressure dread 
Repels sweet slumber from thy bed ? 
To thy Redeemer take that care, 
And change anxiety to prayer. 

Hast thou a hope from which thy heart 
Would feel it almost death to part ? 
Entreat the Lord that hope to crown, 
Or give thee strength to lay it down. 

Hast thou a friend 'whose image dear 
May prove an idol worshiped here ? 
Implore the Lord that naught may be 
A shadow between heaven and thee. 

Whate'er the care that breaks thy, rest, 
Whate'er the wish that swells thy breast, 
Spread before God that wish, that care, 
And change anxiety to prayer. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 329 



THE BE A CON LIGHT 

While on life's stormy sea 

My bark is driven, 
From a far coast to me 

Sweet light is given, 
Gleaming around my way, 
Changing dark night to day, 
Blending its golden ray 

With hues of heaven. 

That beacon light I have, 

And lose all fear ; 
The Savior walks the wave — 

His voice I hear — 
My precious, perfect Guide, 
Bidding the storm subside, 
Showing, beyond the tide, 

Skies heavenly clear. 

I feel thy magnet powers, 

Bright world to come ! 
Faith sees thy glorious .bowers, 

Where angels roam ; 

Where loved ones, gone before, 

Now beckon from the shore, 

And make me long the more 

For them and home. — S. D. Phelps. 
Y 



330 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



COMFORT FOR THE HOUR OF DEATH 
After having dwelt much on the graces and du- 
ties of the believer, I would remind the reader of 
one unspeakable privilege connected with all our 
graces, all our duties, and all our works. It was the 
privilege which comforted the devout Herbert on 
his dying bed. On the day of his death, when re- 
minded of his many acts of mercy, he replied, " They 
be good works if they be sprinkled with the blood 
of Christ, and not otherwise." There is not only 
for us the blessed truths to be believed, that Jesus 
has loved us, and washed us from our sins in his 
own blood, and that our persons are accepted in him, 
but there is also for us the daily privilege of offer- 
ing up all our services in his name : " These are they 
that came out of great tribulation, and have washed 
their robes, and made them white in the precious 
blood of the Lamb." What Christian is not bur- 
dened and humbled to the dust by the sins of his 
best doings ? All bur spiritual clothing, our humil- 
ity, our charity, our prayers, our kindness to others, 
our gifts of every character, all our robes of right- 
eousness imparted to us, as worn by us are soon 
polluted, and need the continual application of the 
blood of the Son of God, which cleanseth from all 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 331 

sin, that they may be made white. Thus shall we 
be found at the last among those who are before the 
throne of God, and serve him day and night in his 
temple. — Edward Bickersteth. 



HE A VENL Y ASPIRA TION. 

We foresee, by faith, that happy day. We see, by 
faith, the new Jerusalem ; the innumerable angels ; 
the perfect spirits of the just; their glorious light, 
their flaming love, their perfect harmony. We hear, 
by faith, their joyful songs of thanks and praise. 
Lately they were as low and sad as we — in sins and 
sorrows, in manifold weaknesses, sufferings, and 
fears ; but by faith and patience we desire to follow 
our Lord and them. The time is near ; this flesh 
will quickly turn to dust, our delivered souls shall 
come to thee ; our life is short, and our sins and 
sorrows will be short ; then we shall have light ; we 
shall no more groan, and cry out in darkness, oh 
that we could know the Lord ! then shall w 7 e love 
thee with pure, unmixed, perfect love, and need no 
more to groan and cry, oh that our souls were in- 
flamed with thy love ! then shall we praise thee with 
thankful alacrity and joy, which will exceed our 
present apprehensions and desires. 

Oh blessed streams of light and love, which will 



332 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

flow from thy opened, glorious face upon our souls 
forever ! How far will that everlasting Sabbath 
and those perfect praises excel these poor and dull 
endeavors ? as far as that triumphant city of God ex- 
celleth this imperfect, childish, discomposed church ! 
Quicken, Lord, our longing for that blessed state 
and day ! O come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, and 
fulfill thy word, that we may be with thee where 
thou art, and may behold thy glory ! — R. Baxter. 



A GTIVITY IN HE A YEN 

Excepting exemption from sin, intense, vigorous, 
untiring action is the greatest pleasure of the mind. 
I could hardly wish to enter heaven did I believe its 
inhabitants were idly to sit by purling streams, fan- 
ned by balmy airs. Heaven, to be a place of hap- 
piness, must be a place of activity. Has the far- 
reaching mind of Newton ceased its profound in- 
vestigations ? Has David hung up his harp as use- 
less as the dusty arms in Westminster Abbey ? 
Has Paul, glowing with God-like enthusiasm, ceased 
itinerating the universe of God ? Are Peter, and 
Cyprian, and Edwards, and Payson, and Evarts 
idling away eternity in mere psalm-singing ? Heav- 
en is a place of restless activity, the abode of never- 
tiring thought. David and Isaiah will sweep nobler 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 333 

and loftier strains in eternity, and the minds of the 
saints, unclogged by cumbersome clay, will forever 
feast on the banquet of rich and glorious thought. 
My friends, go on, then ; you will never get through. 
An eternity of untiring action is before you, and the 
universe of thought is your field. — Henry Ward 
Beecher. 



THE SHINING SHORE 

My days are gliding swiftly by, 

And I, a pilgrim stranger, 
Would not detain them as they fly — 
Those hours of toil and danger. 

For oh ! we stand on Jordan's strand, 

Our friends are passing over, 
And just before, the shining shore, 
We may almost discover. 

We'll gird our loins, my brethren dear, 

Our distant home discerning ; 
Our absent Lord has left us word, 

Let every lamp be burning. 
For oh ! we, etc. 

Should coming days be cold and dark, 

We need not cease our singing ; 
That perfect rest naught can molest, 
Where golden harps are ringing. 
For oh ! we, etc. 



334 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME 

Let sorrow's rudest tempest blow, 

Each cord on earth to sever ; 
Our King says, Come ! and there's our home 

Forever, oh ! forever ! 
For oh ! we, etc. 



NEARING THE GATES. 

Now, while they were thus drawing towards the 
gates, behold a company of the heavenly host came 
out to meet them, to whom it was said by the other 
two shining ones, " These are the men that have 
loved our Lord when they were in the world, and 
that have left all for his holy name, and he hath sent 
us to fetch them, and we have brought them thus far 
on their desired journey, that they may go in and 
look their Redeemer in the face with joy." .... 

And now were these two men, as it were, in heav- 
en before they came at it, being swallowed up with 
a sight of angels, and with hearing of their melodi- 
ous notes. . . . But, above all, the warm and joy- 
ful thoughts that they had about their own dwelling 
there with such company, and that forever and ever 
— oh! by what tongue or pen can these glorious 
joys be expressed ? . . . . 

Now, just as the gates were opened to let in the 
men, I looked in after them, and behold, the city 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 335 

shone like the sun ; the streets were also paved with 
gold, and in them walked many men with crowns 
on their heads, palms in their hands, and golden 
harps to sing praises withal. And after that they* 
shut up the gates, which when I had seen, I wish- 
ed myself amongst them. — John Bunyan. 



A VISION OF GLORY. 

Child. But oh ! what means this weakness, and 
this dim bewilderment, for I feel as though some 
mighty change were working in me ? The former 
things are past away, and behold all things are becom- 
ing new ! I see no more the world and the glories 
of it, as they appear unto the eye of mortal man, but 
in a light so clear and awful ! Surely it beameth 
from eternity itself! How vain and perishing hath 
that world become, thus suddenly unveiled to me ! 

Divine Master. Rise up, my child, my faithful 
one, and come away ; for lo, the winter is past, the 
rain is over and gone, the shadows depart of thy 
mortal life, and the day is dawning that never shall 
fade. It is past — it is gone — the dark time of thy 

conflict and trial The time of the singing of 

angels is come for thee, and the voice of the sera- 
phim is heard in that land. Thou hast wrestled with 
sin till the breaking of the day ; thou hast toiled all 



336 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

night, but the morning is nigh. Arise up, then, my 
child, my faithful one, and come away ; let us haste 
and be gone, for the dawn is bright on the everlast- 
ing hills. 

Child. Oh, my Lord, in the time past of my life 
there was a great strong wind that rent my soul, and 

brake in pieces all my hopes in this world 

But thou wert not in the wind And after the 

wind there was an earthquake All the fair 

things of earth I had sought to repose in gave way 
beneath my feet, and I knew of what dust they were 

made But thou wert not in the earthquake. 

. . . . Then there was a fire, the searching flame of 

suffering, fierce and intense But thou wert not 

in the fire. .... and I still lived on ; and now there 
is a still small voice. . . . . 

Divine Master. And I am here ! Thy Master is 

come, and calleth for thee My child, the day 

breaketh, and we must depart; the shadow of death 
is darkening on thine eyelids, and the radiance of 

earthly suns hath passed from them forever 

But the hand that once opened the eyes of the blind 
is laid upon thine ; and through thy soul, already 
trembling on the threshold of a new existence, the 
light of eternity is dawning, ere yet the silver cord 
that binds thy mortal life is altogether loosed. Look 
up — what seest thou ? 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 337 

Child. I see worlds floating in the infinite glory 
of God, like motes in the sunshine. I see the cen- 
turies falling into the ocean of eternity, swift as the 
rain-drops in summer. 

Divine Master. Look again — what seest thou ? 

Child. The Word— the Word is fulfilled. Mine 
eyes behold the King in his beauty. Oh God, Thou 
art love ! 



TO DEPART AND BE WITS CUEIST— FAR BETTER. 
Not only the dead are the living, but, since they 
have died, they live a better life than ours. ... In 
what particulars is their life now higher than it was ? 
First, they have close fellowship with Christ ; then, 
they are separated from this present body of weak- 
ness, of dishonor, of corruption ; then, they are with- 
drawn from all the trouble, and toil, and care of this 
present life ; and then, and surely not least, they 
have got death behind them, not having that awful 
figure standing on their horizon waiting for them to 
come up with it. . . . They are closer to Christ; 
they are delivered from the body as a source of 
weakness ; as a hinderer of knowledge ; as a drag- 
ger-down of all the aspiring tendencies of the soul; 
as a source of sin ; as a source of pain ; they are 
delivered from all the necessity of labor which is 



338 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

agony, of labor which is disproportionate to strength, 
of labor which often ends in disappointment, of la- 
bor which is wasted so often in mere keeping life 
in, of labor which at the best is a curse, though it 
be a merciful curse too ; they are delivered from 
that " fear of death" which, though it be stripped of 
its sting, is never extinguished in any soul of man 
that lives ; and they can smile at the way in which 
that narrow and inevitable passage bulked so large 
before them all their days, and, after all, when they 
come to it was so slight and small. If these be 
parts of the life of them that " sleep in Jesus ;" if 
they are fuller of knowledge, fuller of wisdom, fuller 
of love, and capacity of love, and object of love; 
fuller of holiness, fuller of energy, and yet full of rest 
from head to foot ; if all the hot tumult of earthly 
experience is stilled and quieted, all the fever beat- 
ing of this blood of ours ever at an end ; all the 
" whips and arrows of outrageous fortune" done with 
forever, and if the calm face which we looked upon, 
and out of which the lines of sorrow, and pain, and 
sickness melted away, giving it back a nobler noble- 
ness than we had ever seen upon it in life, is only an 
image of the restful and more blessed being into 
which they have passed — if the dead are thus, then 
*' Blessed are the dead." — A. McLaren. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 339 



FR OM SHAD W INTO S UNSHINE A T LAST. 
There lie waits for his release, 
There in God finds perfect peace ; 
Till the long years end at last, 
And he too at length has past 
From the sorrows and the fears, 
From the anguish and the tears, 
From the desolate distress 
Of this world's great loneliness, 
From its withering and its blight, 
From the shadows of its night, 
Into God's pure sunshine bright. 

ElCHAED CfTENEVIX TeET^CH. 



THE REST OF FAITH 
For a long time I felt myself to be a lost sheep, 
not knowing on whom to rely ; and now, with the 
deepest consciousness that I have at last attained 
rest, I exclaim, " The Lord is my Shepherd !" What 
is there that can harm me ? I have reached the 
harbor, and storms can no more drive my little ves- 
sel afloat upon the wide sea. And as I look for- 
ward into the future, I exclaim with David, " I shall 
not want." — Augustus Tholuck. 



340 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE SHORE OF ETERNITY. 

Alone ! to land alone upon that shore, 
With no one sight that we have seen before ; 

Things of a different hue, 

And the sounds all new, 
And fragrances so sweet the soul may faint. 
Alone ! Oh, that first hour of being a saint ! 

Alone ! to land alone upon that shore, 
On which no wavelets lisp, no billows roar, 

Perhaps no shape of ground, 

Perhaps no sight or sound, 
No forms of earth our fancies to arrange — 
But to begin alone that mighty change ! 

Alone ! to land alone upon that shore, 
Knowing so well we can return no more ; 

No voice or face of friend, 

None with us to attend 
Our disembarking on that awful strand, 
But to arrive alone in such a land ! 

Alone ! to land alone upon that shore ! 
To begin alone to live forevermore, 

To have no one to teach 

The manners of the speech 
Of that new life, or put us at our ease ; 
Oh that we might die in pairs or companies ! 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 341 

Alone ? the God we know is on that shore, 
The God of whose attractions we know more 

Than of those who may appear 

Nearest and dearest here ; 
Oh, is He not the life-long friend we know 
More privately than any friend below ? 

Alone % the God we trust is on that shore, 
The Faithful One whom we have trusted more 

In trials and in woes 

Than we have trusted those 
On whom we leaned most in our earthly strife: 
Oh, we shall trust Him more in that new life ! 

Alone ? the God Ave love is on that shore — 
Love not enough, 3^et whom we love far more, 

And whom we loved all through, 

And with a love more true 
Than other loves — yet now shall love Him more : 
True love of Him begins upon that shore ! 

So not alone we land upon that shore ; 

'Twill be as though we had been there before ; 

We shall meet more we know 

Than we can meet below, 
And find our rest like some returning dove, 
And be at home at once with our Eternal love ! 

F. W. Faber. 



Thou hast dealt well with thy servant." 



342 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



THE REUNION. 

As it was the first Adam that broke creation into 
fragments, so it is the second Adam that is to re- 
store creation in all its parts and regions, and make 
it one again. The good and the evil then are part- 
ed forever, but the good and the good are brought 
into perfect oneness — a oneness so complete, so 
abiding, as more than to compensate for brokenness 
and separation here. 

The soul and the body come together and form 
one glorified man. The ten thousand members of 
the church come together and form one glorified 
church. The scattered stones come together and 
form one living temple. The Bride and the Bride- 
groom meet. Here it has been one Lord, one faith, 
one baptism ; there it shall be one body, one bride, 
one vine, one temple, one family, one city, one king- 
dom. 

The broken fruitfulness, the fitful inconstancy of 
the cursed earth, shall pass into the unbroken beau- 
ty of the new creation. The discord of the troubled 
elements shall be laid, and harmony return. The 
warring animals shall lie down in peace. 

Then shall heaven and earth come together into 
one. That which we call distance is annihilated. 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 343 

and the curtain drawn by sin is withdrawn from be- 
tween the upper and lower glory, and the fields of a 
paradise that was never lost are brought into happy 
neighborhood with the fields of paradise regained, 
God's purpose developing itself in the oneness of a 
twofold glory — the rulers and the ruled, the risen 
and the unrisen, the celestial and the terrestrial, the 
glory that is m the heaven above, the glory that is 
in the earth beneath ; for "there are celestial bodies 
and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial 
is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another." 

Such scenes we need to dwell upon, that, as our 
tribulations abound, so also our consolations may 
abound. Our wounds here are long in healing. Be- 
reavements keep the heart long bleeding. Melanc- 
thon, with a tender simplicity so like himself, refers 
to his feelings when his child was taken from him 
by death. He wept as he recalled the past. It 
pierced his soul to remember the time when once, 
as he sat weeping, his little one with its napkin 
wiped the tears from his cheeks. 

Recollections like these haunt us through life, 
ever and anon newly brought up by passing scenes. 
Some summer morning's sun recalls, with stinging 
freshness, the hour w 7 hen that same sun streamed in 
through our window upon a dying infant's cradle, as 
if to bring out all the beauty of the parting smile, 



34A LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 

and engrave it upon our hearts forever. Or it is a 
funeral scene that cometh to memory — a funeral 
scene that had but a few days before been a bridal 
one — and never on earth can we forget the outburst 
of our grief when we saw the bridal flowers laid 
upon the new-made tomb. Or some wintry noon 
recalls the time and the scene when we laid a par- 
ent's dust within its resting-place, and left it to sleep 
in winter's grave of snows. These memories haunt 
us, pierce us, and make us feel what a desolate place 
this is, and what an infinitely desirable thing it would 
be to meet these lost ones again, where the meeting 
shall be eternal. 

Hence the tidings of this reunion in the many 
mansions are like home-greetings. They relieve the 
smitten heart. They bid us be of good cheer, for 
the separation is but brief, and the meeting to which 
we look forward will be the happiest ever enjoyed. 
The time of sorrowful recollections will soon pass, 
and no remembrance remain but that which will 
make our joy to overflow. 

Every thing connected with this reunion is fitted 
to enhance its blessedness. To meet again any 
where, or any how, or at any time, would be bless- 
ed ; how much more at such a time, in such circum- 
stances, and in such a home ! The dark past lies 
behind us like a prison from which we have come 



LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 345 

forth, or like a wreck from which we have escaped 
in safety and landed in a quiet haven. We meet 
where separation is an impossibility, where distance 
no more tries fidelity, or pains the spirit, or mars the 
joy of loving. We meet in a kingdom. We meet 
at a marriage-table. We meet in the "prepared 
city," the new Jerusalem. We meet under the shad- 
ow of the tree of life, and on the banks of the river 
of life. We meet to keep festival and sing the songs 
of triumph. It was blessed to meet here for a day; 
how much more to meet in the kingdom forever ! It 
was blessed to meet, even with parting full in view ; 
how much more so when no such cloud overhangs 
our future ! It was blessed to meet in the wilder- 
ness and the land of graves ; how much more in 
paradise, and in the land where death enters not ! 
It was blessed to meet " in the night," though chill 
and dark ; how much more in the morning, when 
light has risen, and the troubled sky is cleared, and 
joy is spreading itself around us like a new atmos- 
phere from which every element of sorrow has dis- 
appeared ! HORATIUS BONAR. 



There is not a more repulsive spectacle than 

the old man who will not forsake the world which 

has already forsaken him. — Augustus Tholuck. 

Z 



346 LIGHT AT EVENING TIME. 



FOREVER WITH THE LORD. 

u Forever with the Lord !" 
So, Jesus, let it be ; 
Life from the dead is in that word — • 
"lis immortality. 

Here in the body pent, 

Absent from Thee I roam ; 
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 

A day's march nearer home. 

"Forever with the Lord !" 
Savior, if 'tis Thy will, 
The promise of that faithful word 
E'en here to me fulfill. 

So when my latest breath 

Shall rend the veil in twain, 
By death I shall escape from death, 

And life eternal gain. 

Knowing as I am known, 

How shall I love that word, 
And oft repeat before the throne, 

"Forever with the Lord !" 

James Montgomery. 



Although the day be ne'er so long, 
At last it ringeth to even song. 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



Adam, T., 223. 

Adams, Sarah F., 262. 

Adams, William, 140, 214. 

Addison, Joseph, 254. 

A Kempis, Thomas, 169. 

Alexander, James W., 9. 

Arnold, Thomas, 300. 

Arnot, William, 231. 

Augustine, 150. 

Barrow, J., 56. 

Barton, Bernard, 142, 305. 

Bate, John, 245. 

Bates, William, 311. 

Batty, Thomas, 208. 

Baxter, Richard, 115, 331. 

Bean, James, 259. 

Beaumont, J., 320. 

Beecher, H. W., 48, 83, 117, 120, 
180, 251, 262, 281, 303, 308, 332. 

Be veridge, William, 250. 

Bickersteth, Edward, 330. 

Binney, Thomas, 303. 

Blunt, Henry, 96, 133, 143, 207. 

Bonar, Horatius, 53, 148, 342. 

Boyd, A. K. H. (" Country Par- 
son"), 24. 

Bridges, Charles, 285. 

Brooks, Thomas, 48, 180. 

Bunyan, John, 47, 142, 194, 334. 

Burlingham, A. PL, 85. 

Butler, W. Archer, 246. 



Byrom, John, 161. 

Caird, John, 61,157. 

Campbell, Hope, 90. 

Cameron, Andrew, 135. 

Cheever, George B., 203. 

Cheever,H.T.,77. 

Chrysostom, 98, 100. 

Coley, S., 83. 

Crosby, Howard, 154. 

Davies, Edwin, 87. 

Davies, Samuel, 231. 

Elliott, Charlotte, 228. 

Faber,F.W.,340. 

Ferguson, R., 327. 

Flavel, John, 198. 

Foster, John, 49. 

Fry, Caroline, 94. 

Gasparin, Madame de, 190, 194, 

207. 
Gill, John, 166. 
Gray, Rachael, 276. 
Guthrie, Thomas, 89, 93, 121, 279, 

302, 323. 
Hall, John, 170, 173, 174, 176, 177, 

194. 
Hall, Joseph, 22,76. 
Hamilton, James, 70, 104, 312. 
Hamilton, R.W., 321. 
Hawker, Robert, 34. 
Henry, Matthew, 136, 179, 280. 
Henry, Philip, 202. 



348 



INDEX OF A UTHORS. 



Hervey, James, 73, 251. 

Hoge,W. J.,128. 

Holme, John Stanford, 295, 297. 

Hood, Edwin Paxton, 227. 

Howe, John, 182. 

Hullett, J.,145. 

Jay, William, 187. 

Jenks, Benjamin, 268, 273. 

Kelly, Thomas, 118, 168. 

Ken, Thomas, 271. 

Krummacher,F.W.,31, 37, 84,128, 
304,316,318. 

Leighton, Robert, 92, 130, 221, 264, 
302. 

Longfellow, II. W., 134. 

Lyte, Henry Francis, 71, 127, 236. 

Macaulay,T. B.,291. 

Macduff, J. R., 79, 160. 

Maclaurin, J., 70. 

Magoon, E. L., 88. 

Manning, H.E., 30. 

Martyn, Henry, 55. 

Maynard, Mary, 263. 

McCheyne,R.M.,235. 

McLauren, 337. 

Milton, John, 52. 

Montgomery, James, 346. 

More, Hannah, 316. 

Mogridge, George ("Old Hum- 
phrey"), 249. 

Muhlenburg, William A., 323. 

Miiller,H.,244. 

Newman, John Henry, 149. 

Newton, John, 1 14, 1 91. 

Palmer, Ray, 63. 

Parker, T., 294. 

Parsons, James, 309. 

Pascal, Jacqueline, 146. 



Phelps, S. Dryden, 329. 

Pope, Alexander, 247. 

Prentiss, Mrs. E., 46, 219, 225, 242. 

Pulsford, J.,36. 

Punshon, William M., 1 46, 1 88, 205. 

Ramsay, E. B., 125. 

Ridgaway, H. B.,198. 

Robertson,FrederickW., 32, 38,44, 

59, 68, 91, 164, 196, 219, 232, 282. 
Romaine, William, 288. 
Ruskin, John, 119. 
Rutherford, Samuel, 80, 113, 190. 
Saunders, Frederick, 243. 
Scriver, Christian, 158, 290, 
Sibbes, Richard, 153, 211. 
Spurgeon, Charles, 57, 162, 230, 

237,277,284. 
Stanford, C, 307, 318. 
Stanley, Arthur P., 326. 
Stoughton,J.,325. 
Taylor, Jeremy, 255. 
Tholuck, Augustus, 41, 339, 345. 
Toplacly,A.M.,40,241. 
Townson, J., 279. 
Trench,Richard Chenevix,l 32,339. 
Vaughan,C.J.,209. 
Watson, Richard, 122. 
Watts, Isaac, 82,131,306. 
Wesley, Charles, 181, 275. 
Wesley, John, 106, 225. 
Wesleys, The Mother of the, 1 1 2, 
Whitecross, J., 195. 
Whittier, John G.,97. 
Wilberforce, William, 187. 
Williams, William, 293. 
Williams, William R., 65, 81, 278. 
Willmott,R.A.,138. 
Winslow, Mrs. Mary, 39. 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Abide with us, 127. 
Abraham, the Death of, 304. 
Active Life, aged Christians still 

in, 12. 
Advent, the, 82. 
Affliction, 126. 

Affliction, a Prayer for one in, 271. 
Affliction, Uses of, 132. 
Age, Happiness of, 36. 
Aged and Helpless, 305. 
Aged, a Psalm for the, 41. 
Aged Christian, Testimony of an, 

51. 
Aged Person, a Prayer for the Use 

of an, 273. 
Aged Person, Letter to an, 113. 
Arise, Shine, for thy Light is come, 

246. 
Asleep and Awake, 281. 
Autumn and Spring, 263. 

Beacon Light, the, 329. 
Believer, Death of the, 295. 
Best as it is, 143. 
Bible, the, 231,278. 
Bible, the Old Man's, 140. 
Bitter, the, with the Sweet, 64. 
Blindness, Milton on his, 52. 
Building, 120. 

Care upon Christ, cast all your, 

205. 
" Casting all your Care upon him," 

115. 
Cheer, Words of, 195. 



Christ a Fountain, 83. 

Christ, all from, 76. 

Christ, all One in, 275. 

Christ in the Christian, 85. 

Christ, joint Heirs with, 98. 

Christ, Looking to, 169. 

Christ, the full Vision of, 288. 

Christ, to be with, 277. 

Christ, to depart and be with — far 
better, 337. 

Christian Progress, 32. 

Christian, the trembling, 136. 

Christian, Trial of the worldly, 196. 

City, the abiding, 168. 

Clouds, 227. 

Communion with God, 300. 

Compensation, the Bible a His- 
tory of, 138. 

Conquerors, more than, 284. 

Contentment, 112. 

Cross-bearing, 207. 

Cross, before the, 208. 

Cross, Glory of the, 69. 

Cross, Taking up the, 71. 

Crown of Glory, the hoary Head 
a, 22. 

David's Harp, 318. 
I Death, a Preparation for, 300. 
DeathjComfort for the Hour of,330. 
Death, consoling Idea of, 260. 
Death, the Believer's, 166. 
Death, the Fear of, 18. 
Death, the Worldling's Notion of, 
21. 



350 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Death welcome, 157. 
Delight in God, the Saint's, 182. 
Dependence, a Life of, 176. 
Dependence of the Soul, God the 

only, 68. 
Depression, Religious, 164. 
Difficulties solved, 194. 
Due Time, the, 130. 
Dying, Gain of, 308. 

Enduring unto the End, 49, 75. 
Entrance, the abundant, 154. 
Eventide, Light at, 253. 

Faint not, ye shall Reap if ye, 

68, 
Faith, 244. 

Faith, Fidelity to the, 79. 
Faith, Life of, 82. 
Faith, Living by, 63. 
Faith, Magnetism of, 77. 
Faith, Simple, 36. 
Faith, Simplicity of, 89. 
Faith, the riper Fruits of, 137. 
Faith, the Trial of our, 106. 
Faith, the Walk of, 39. 
Fear of Death, Prayer against the, 

259. 
Feelings, Changeful, 180. 
Fidelity in Persecution, 88. 
Forever with the Lord, 346. 
Fullness of Joy at God's right 

Hand, 323. 
Future, Caring for the, 303. 
Future, Ignorance of the, 87. 

Glory, a Vision of, 335. 
God, Access to, 104. 
God a Friend, 84. 
God a Rock, 135. 
God, Dependence upon, 145. 
God hath led me all these Years, 
209. 



God, Love of, 160. 
God, Rest only in, 161. 
God, Silence of, 117. 
God unchangeable, 48. 
God, upheld by, 73. 
God, Ways of, 316. 
Goodness, personal, 192. 
Gospel, the Glorious, 281. 
Gospel, the, not gloomy, 128. 
Grace, saved by, 195. 
Grace, the Teachings of, 179. 
Gratitude, Memorial of, 147. 
Great Physician, Treatment of the, 

242. 
Guide, the Holy Spirit our, 211. 

Hand, Divine, upheld by the, 73. 
Happiness, attaining, 262. 
Hearer, not a Forgetful, 234. 
Hearing and Doing, 125. 
Heart, hardening the, 235. 
Heaven a City, 302. 
Heaven, Activity in, 332. 
Heaven, Beginning of, 294. 
Heaven, Foretokens of, 321. 
Heaven, Friendships of, 320. 
Heaven, Inquiries about, 318. 
Heaven, Longing for, 325. 
Heaven looked forward to, 306. 
Heaven, nearness of, 307. 
Heaven, Paul's Estimate of, 316. 
Heaven, Service of, 312. 
Heaven, the Music of, 311. 
Heaven, the Suburbs of, 20. 
Heaven, Thoughts of, 309. 
Heavenly Aspiration, 331. 
Holy Song, Priesthood of, 243. 
Home, a humble, 70. 
Home, Heaven a, 279. 
Home, Heaven our, 153. 

I am, 250. 

" I am ready to die," 290. 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



351 



Indemnities, Christianity a System 

of, 15. 
Inheritance, Glory of our, 100. 
"It is well," 322. 
I will fear no Evil, 253. 
I will never leave thee nor forsake 

thee, 314. 
I would not live alway, 323. 

Jehovah Jireh, 245. 
Jerusalem, the Holy, 50. 
Jesus, Looking to, 251. 
Jesus, Sight of, 93. 
Jesus, Sympathy of, 91. 
Job, a Parable, 37. 
Just as I am, 228. 

Keep the Heart alive, 142. 
Kindness, Memory of, 251. 

Last Hours of Life, Occupation for 

the, 219. 
Lead, kindly Light, 149. 
Life in the Flesh, a, 173. 
Life, Review of, 257. 
Life, the Discouragements of, 96. 
Life, the Troubles of, 191. 
Life to come, Happiness of the, 221. 
Life's Changes, 144. 
Light and Dark, 122. 
Light, at Evening Time it shall be, 

24. 
Light, through Darkness to, 192. 
Light through Tears, 124. ^ 

Lives, some noble, 170. 
Longer Life, a Prayer for, 264. 
Look on Jesus, not on the Waves, 

133. 
Look up, 92. 
Look within, 123. 
Looking Westward, 51. 
Lord, cast thy Burden on the, 328. 
Loss and Gain, 238. 



Love a Safeguard, 282. 

Making God's Law our Song, 285. 
Man Christ Jesus, the, 261. 
Meditation, Importance of, 202. 
Memories of the Way, 146. 
Mercy, Cloud of, 81. 
Morning, Evening often pleasanter 

than, 57. 
Mourners, Comfort for, 231. 
My Grace is sufficient for thee, 241. 

Nearer Heaven, 224. 

Nearer to Thee, 262. 

Nearing Heaven, 279. 

Nearing the Gates, 334. 

Night of Sorrow — Morning of Joy, 

121. 
Night-watch, the, 53. 
Not impatient, but ready, 317. 
Not my Will, but Thine, 148. 

Old Age, a Parable, 31. 

Old Age, Beauty of, 305. 

Old Age, blessed Work for, 229. 

Old Age, Backsliding in, 240. 

Old Age, a happy, 198. 

Old Age, Sin forgiven in, 162. 

Old Man, the, 207. 

Old Man, the happy, 261. 

One in Christ, 40. 

Opened Gates, the, 224. 

Parable, a, 128. 

Path of the Just, the, 203. 

Patience, Angel of, 97. 

Patience, Motives to, 65. 

Patient Waiting, 191. 

Paul the Aged, such a one as, 34. 

Perseverance, Christian, 47. 

Perseverance, Christian, Necessity 

of, 48. 
Pilgrimage, our, 239. 



352 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Pilgrim's Prayer, the, 293. 
Pilgrim's Way to Heaven, 291. 
Portion, God our, 61. 
Poverty in Old Age, 187. 
Praise, 56. 

Praise, the Spirit of, 237. 
Prayer and Temptation, 255. 
Prayer, unanswered, 326. 
Preparation for Death, a Prayer 

on, 268. 
Progress, Christian, 32. 

Reaching forward, 38. 
Remember Lot's Wife, 30. 
Resignation, 288. 
Rest, Entering into, 190. 
Retiring from Business, 1 1 . 
Retrospect and Prospect, 214. 
Reunion, the, 342. 
Rock, Build on the, 80. 
Rod, the, 158. 

Self-denying Effort, a Life of, 174. 

Seventy-first Psalm, a Commentary 
on the, 41. 

Shadow into Sunshine, from, 339. 

Shore of Eternity, the, 340. 

Sick-chamber Sabbath Hymn, 248. 

Sickness of Elisha, 187. 

Sickness, the Chamber of, 315. 

Sight well-pleasing to God, a, 302. 

Simply Trusting, 95. 

Sing, for your Redemption is near, 
276. 

Sinner, a, be merciful to me, 236. 

Sorrow, the Lessons of, 232. 

Spiritual Fellowship with depart- 
ed Friends, 297. 

Strength of Age, the, Joy of the 
Lord, the, 17. 

Submitting to what ? 141. 



Suffering a higher Path than Do- 
ing, 167. 

Sufficiency, the Believer's, 188. 

Sun of Righteousness, the Soul 
mounting toward the, 14. 

Sunlight sent by the Lord, 90. 

Suspense, 46. 

Swift Ships, like the, 230. 

Taking Rest, 59. 

Temple, the Finishing of the, 55. 

TheDay, Strength sufficient for, 54. 

The Past, Oblivion of, 44. 

The Rest of Faith, 339. 

The Shining Shore, 333. 

The Vision of God and a Knowl- 
edge of Heavenly Mysteries, 150. 

Think of this, 249.' 

Thoughts, Wandering, 225. 

Through Darkness to Light, 119, 
192. 

Time,Sanctification a Work of, 146. 

Time, the Due, 130. 

Trials, our, 114. 

Tribulation, Comfort in, 116. 

Tribulations, we glory in, also, 131 

Truly noble Life, a, 177. 

Unbelief, evil Effects of, 198. 



Victory, Last, 303. 



Waiting Times, 180. 
Wanderer, the returning, 181. 
Way to God, we are on our, 11: 
Welsh Peasant, the, 94. 
"When Egypt's King," 247. 
Witnesses, the Cloud of, 327. 
Work, Finish thy, 197. 

Youth renewed in Age, 9. 



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Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. By James Boswell, Esq. Edited 
by John Wilson Croker, LL.D., F.R.S. With a Portrait of Boswell. 
2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $4 00 ; Sheep, $5 00 ; Half Calf, $8 50. 

SAMUEL JOHNSON: HIS WORDS AND HIS WAYS; what he Said, 
what he Did, and what Men Thought and Spoke Concerning him. Edit- 
ed by E. T. Mason. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. 

JOHNSON'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 
With an Essay on his Life and Genius, by Arthur Murphy, Esq. 2 vols., 
8vo, Cloth, $4 00 ; Sheep, $5 00 ; Half Calf, $8 50. 

THE VOYAGE OF THE " CHALLENGER." The Atlantic : an Account 
of the General Results of the Voyage during 1873, and the Early Part of 
1876. By Sir Wyville Thomson, K.C.B., F.R.S. With numerous Il- 
lustrations, Colored Maps, and Charts, from Drawings by J. J. Wjld, en- 
graved by J. D. Cooper, and Portrait of the Author, engraved by C. H. 
Jeens. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $12 00. 

WALLACE'S GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. The 

Geographical Distribution of Animals. With a study of the Relations 
of Living and Extinct Faunas, as Elucidating the Past Changes of the 
Earth's Surface. By Alfred Russel Wallace. With Maps and Illus- 
trations. In 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $10 00. 

WALLACE'S MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. The Malay Archipelago: The 
Land of the Orang-Utan and the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of 
Travel, 1854-1862. With Studies of Man and Nature. By A. R. Wal- 
lace. Maps and Illustrations. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

BOURNE'S LIFE OF LOCKE. The Life of John Locke. By H. R. Fox 
Bourne. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $5 00. 

BLUNT'S BEDOUIN TRIBES OF THE EUPHRATES. Bedouin Tribes 
of the Euphrates. By Lady Anne Blunt. Edited, with a Preface and 
some Account of the Arabs and their Horses, by W. S. B. Map and 
Sketches by the Author. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

BROUGHAM'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Life and Times of Henry, Lord 
Brougham. Written by Himself. 3 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $6 00. 

THOMPSON'S PAPACY AND THE CIVIL POWER. The Papacy and the 
Civil Power. By the Hon. R. W. Thompson, Secretary of the U. S. Navy. 
Crown 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. 

ADDISON'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Joseph Addison, em- 
bracing the whole of the Spectator. 3 vols., Svo, Cloth, $6 00 ; Sheep, 
$7 50; Half Calf, $12 75. 



8 Valuable Works for Public and Private Libraries. 

THE POETS AND POETRY OF SCOTLAND: From the Earliest to the 
Present Time. Comprising Characteristic Selections from the Works 
of the more Noteworthy Scottish Poets, with Biographical and Critical 
Notices. By James Grant Wilson. With Portraits on Steel. 2 vols., 
8vo, Cloth, $10 00 ; Sheep, $12 00 ; Half Calf, $14 50 ; Full Morocco, 
$18 00. 
THE STUDENT'S SERIES. With Maps and Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth. 
France. — Gibbon. — Greece. — Rome (by Liddell). — Old Testament His- 
tory. — New Testament History. — Strickland's Queens op England 
(Abridged). — Ancient History op the East. — Hallam's Middle Ages. 
— Hallam's Constitutional History of England. — Lyell's Elements 
op Geology. — Merivale's General History op Rome. — Cox's Gen- 
eral History op Greece. — Classical Dictionary. Price $1 25 per 
volume. 

Lewis's History of Germany. — Ecclesiastical History. — Hume's 
England. Price $1 50 per volume. 

CAMERON'S ACROSS AFRICA. Across Africa. By Verney Lovett Cam- 
eron, C.B., D.C.L., Commander Royal Navy, Gold Medalist Royal Geo- 
graphical Society, etc. With a Map and numerous Illustrations. 8vo, 

Cloth, $5 00. 

BARTH'S NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA. Travels and Discoveries 
in North and Central Africa : being a Journal of an Expedition under- 
taken under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1849- 
1855. By Henry Barth, Ph.D., D.C.L. Illustrated. 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, 
$12 00; Sheep, $13 50; Half Calf, $18 15. 

THE REVISION OF THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NEW TESTA- 
MENT. With an Introduction by the Rev. P. Schaff, D.D. 618 pp., 
Crown 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. 
This work embraces in one volume : 
I. ON A FRESH REVISION OF THE ENGLISH NEW TESTA- 
MENT. By J. B. Lightfoot, D.D., Canon of St. Paul's, and Hul- 
sean Professor of Divinity, Cambridge. Second Edition, Revised. 
196 pp. 
II. ON THE AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE NEW TESTA- 
MENT in Connection with some Recent Proposals for its Revision. 
By R. C. Trench, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. 194 pp. 
III. CONSIDERATIONS ON THE REVISION OF THE ENGLISH 
VERSION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. By C. J.Ellicott,D.D., 
Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. 178 pp. 

NICHOLS'S ART EDUCATION. Art Education applied to Industry. By 
George Ward Nichols. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $4 00 ; Half Calf, $6 25. 



